Rallies across globe protest Iran's grip on opposition

LONDON - Protesters across the world called on Iran yesterday to end its clampdown on opposition activists, demanding the release of hundreds of people rounded up during demonstrations against the country's disputed election.

Groups including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International backed a global day of action, with protests planned in more than 80 cities.

The protesters want Iranian authorities to release what they say are hundreds, or even thousands, of people detained during protests that followed the June 12 presidential election that returned Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power.

Inside Iran, as well, Iranian police and pro-government militia attacked and scattered hundreds of protesters who had gathered in Tehran in response to the global demonstrations of solidarity, witnesses said.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has declared Ahmadinejad's victory valid.

Police said about 600 protesters joined a "noisy but peaceful" demonstration outside the Iranian embassy in London, one of a series of events in Europe. In Brussels, Belgium, protesters held placards carrying images of the detained or dead, including Neda Agha Soltan, the 27-year-old whose fatal shooting on the street - beamed around the world on the Internet - became a rallying cry for opponents of the regime.

In Amsterdam, several hundred people watched Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi urge the international community to reject the election outcome and called for a new vote monitored by the United Nations.

Several hundred protesters gathered behind police barricades just off Times Square in New York City. One man hoisted a green placard, splattered with red, that read, "Where is my vote?" The crowd chanted, "Stop the killing. Stop the torture."

A small group of Iranians in New York have been on a three-day hunger strike and are holding frequent demonstrations outside the United Nations to call on the world body to investigate human-rights abuses in Iran.

In Washington, hundreds marched from a U.N. office downtown to the National Mall for a rally.

About 80 people wearing headbands, wristbands, or bandanas in green - the color of Iran's protest movement - demonstrated in front of the U.N.'s European headquarters in Geneva, while several hundred people rallied at Paris' Trocadero square overlooking the Eiffel Tower.

"We've had enough of religious regimes that don't have the Iranian people's best interest at heart," said protester Sakineh Davoodi, 50, a cashier from Iran who has lived in France for 23 years.

About 350 people gathered in downtown Vienna, and about 150 protesters gathered in Rome. In Norway, about 250 Iranian emigres met at a conference center on the outskirts of Oslo, and about 3,000 people gathered in Stockholm and others in Copenhagen, Denmark.

There were small protests in the Australian cities of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and the capital, Canberra.

About 80 people gathered in Tokyo, draping green scarves around their necks and lighting candles.

In the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, about 20 Iranians - among them refugees and students - gathered outside the local press club to protest the Iranian crackdown, yelling, "Death to the dictator!"

"Innocent Iranians are being killed," said Hessam Moghimi, 27, who has lived in Pakistan for about eight years. "We want justice for the blood that's been spilled."