Crowds mark Iran Revolution Day, protests expected

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Iranians took to the streets Thursday to mark the 31st anniversary of the Islamic revolution at rallies that opposition leaders have urged their supporters to attend too.

State television showed live footage of crowds carrying Iranian flags and pictures of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei making their way to Azadi (freedom) Square in central Tehran, where the main gathering is held.

Neither side has shown much appetite for compromise in the eight months since the disputed June presidential vote, which the opposition says was rigged to secure Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election, and confrontations may intensify Thursday.

The Islamic state is facing its worst domestic crisis in three decades as opposition supporters have rallied round reformists who lost to Ahmadinejad in the election.

Iran faces growing Western calls for targeted sanctions against it after Ahmadinejad ordered production of higher-grade uranium, stirring fears that Tehran aims to make nuclear bombs, not just fuel for civilian use as it says is the case.

The authorities, who say the poll was fair, have struggled to suppress the protests, and opened trials in recent weeks of people charged in connection with bloody riots on December 27.

Opposition leaders have said the trials were an attempt to

deter people from taking part in protests on February 11.

"There is a heavy presence of security forces everywhere. Police trucks are at every major intersection," said a witness in central Tehran. Police helicopters were flying over the city.

Police chief Esmail Ahmadi-Moghaddam said Wednesday the Revolutionary Guards and Basij Islamic militia were ready for any incident.

"In case of any riots, public disturbance and disorder ... police will detain and keep rioters in prison until April 9," an unnamed official told the semi-official Fars news agency on Thursday.

Internet connections have frequently been slow or unreliable during times of political turmoil since the vote. The opposition has used internet and text messaging as its main communication channels. Internet connections were functioning Thursday.

WATER CANNON VEHICLES

An opposition website, Iran Green Voice, reported large numbers of opposition supporters gathering in several cities, including Tehran and the northern city of Tabriz.

"In some parts of Tehran, opposition supporters are chanting 'Death to the Dictator'" the website said. "So far, no clashes."

Security forces are equipped with water cannon to disperse opposition protests, the opposition website Jaras reported.

The reports could not be verified independently because journalists working for foreign media were escorted to Azadi Square and are not at liberty to cover opposition rallies.

The Islamic Republic has survived many challenges, not least a 1980-88 war started by Iraq's Saddam Hussein, whose forces were propped up by Gulf Arab oil money and Western weaponry.

But the national unity forged in that trauma has long given way to rifts within clerical and political elites that widened after the June election. Street protests have flared periodically ever since, sometimes around official rallies.

Attending February 11 events is a tradition for many in the country of 70 million, over half of whom have only ever known the Islamic Republic established by the revolution led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

"If we all stay at home, our youngsters will be left alone on Bahman 22 (February 11). We should support them," said Laleh, a 67-year-old housewife. "I have nothing to lose."

Iranian Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi said Wednesday her country faced a catastrophe that would wreck peace in the whole Middle East if what she called government repression of the people were not halted.

Opposition leaders Mirhossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi say the reform movement is alive despite pressure from the hardline rulers to disband. Karoubi predicted last month that Ahmadinejad would not be able to complete his four-year term.

"Even if he stays in power until the end of his term, he will be the weakest president since the revolution," an Iranian analyst who did not want to be named said this week.

(Writing by Andrew Hammond and Parisa Hafezi, editing by Tim Pearce)