Global General

Special

Newsmaker

Asia Pacific

America

Middle East

Europe

Africa

Iran police chief warns Mousavi - media

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-06-21 15:49

TEHRAN: Iran's police chief has warned opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi that officers will "decisively confront" any further unrest over a disputed presidential vote, Iranian newspapers reported on Sunday.

Related readings:  TV: Iran's 10% ballot boxes to be recounted  Iran threatens harsh crackdown against opposition  Iran supreme leader backs poll result  Iran's Khamenei demands halt to election protests Hundreds of thousands stage somber rally in Iran

A letter to Mousavi from police chief Ismail Ahmadi Moghaddam was carried by newspapers after unrest across Tehran on Saturday as demonstrators protesting against the official results of a June 12 election clashed with riot police.

It was not clear when the letter was written.

"I announce that if the current situation continues the police, in line with preserving the society's and people's order and security, will decisively confront illegal activities," Ahmadi Moghaddam said, according to the Etemad-e Melli daily.

"After the announcement of the election results your supporters, in an illegal act, poured into the streets and by disrupting public order and security disrupted society's atmosphere," the letter said.

Ahmadi Moghaddam told Mousavi that "bandits are acting in the shadow of the illegal atmosphere created by you" but that police had not fired one shot at them. He said 400 police officers had been wounded in post-election unrest.

The authorities have repeatedly said rallies by supporters of Mousavi, who says the election was rigged in favour of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and wants it annulled, were illegal.

On Saturday, Mousavi said the Islamic Republic must be purged of what he called lies and dishonesty, sending out a direct challenge to its conservative rulers.