TEHRAN, Iran — An Iranian opposition leader on Monday condemned the killing of protesters during Shiite Islam's most important observance, saying the government was even more brutal than the cruel regime that was ousted by the Islamic Revolution three decades ago. Mahdi Karroubi, a candidate who lost in June's disputed presidential election, posted a statement on an opposition Web site asking how the government could spill the blood of its people on the sacred day of Ashoura. He said even the former government of the hated shah respected the holy day.
"What has really happened? They (the ruling system) spilled the blood of people on the day of Ashoura and gets a group of savage individuals confronting people," Karroubi said on the pro-reform Rah-e-Sabz Web site. The shah, who was overthrown in 1979, was widely hated, and comparing a rival to him is a serious, though common, insult in Iranian politics.
The violence erupted Sunday when security forces fired on stone-throwing protesters in the center of Tehran. Opposition Web sites and witnesses say at least five people were killed, while Iran's state-run Press TV, quoting the Supreme National Security Council, said the death toll was eight. It gave no further details.
It was one of the bloodiest confrontations in months, and the dead included a nephew of chief opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, according to Mousavi's Web site, Kaleme.ir.
Police have denied using firearms, but the clashes were sure to deepen antagonism between the government and a reform movement that has shown resilience in the face of repeated crackdowns since the June election. Some accounts of the violence Sunday in Tehran were vivid and detailed, but they could not be independently confirmed because of government restrictions on media coverage. Police said dozens of officers were injured and more than 300 protesters were arrested.
Foxnews.com 
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