Iran Revolutionary Guard threaten protest crackdown

By Parisa Hafezi and Fredrik Dahl

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Police broke up a protest in Tehran on Monday hours after the hardline Revolutionary Guards said they would crush any fresh resistance from "rioters."

EDITORS' NOTE: Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on their ability to report, film or take pictures in Tehran.

Yet in a gesture of defiance first used in the 1979 Islamic revolution, and now adopted by pro-reform protesters, people again chanted "Allahu Akbar" from their rooftops at nightfall.

Witnesses said supporters of opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi had gathered earlier in Tehran's Haft-e Tir square.

But Iran's state Press TV channel said they had been dispersed following the arrival of security forces.

Residents said riot police, some on motorbikes, and members of the religious Basij militia, were out in force.

One witness said that from his balcony he had seen a group chanting slogans being attacked by the Basij, who dragged the protesters out of a nearby house to which they had fled.

"The Basiji were really aggressive and swearing at me to go inside," the witness said. "I was scared they were going to break into my house too."