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Protests continue in Iran (4:30)

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Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has warned against further street protests over the presidential election. But protests continue. Anchor Marco Werman speaks with New York Times reporter Nazila Fathi, who’s in Tehran.

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MARCO WERMAN: I’m Marco Werman and this is The World. Today the warning came from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. The elite force threatened that demonstrators who continue to protest Iran’s disputed presidential election would face what it called a revolutionary confrontation. And yet there were more clashes today in Tehran. Nazila Fathi of the New York Times is one of the few foreign correspondents still in the Iranian capital.

NAZILA FATHI: What we heard was that there was at least a crowd of 1000 people in central Tehran on Haft-e Tir Square and people were dispersed by the riot police and power military forces. They used tear gas against people and they attacked people with clubs and quickly the crowd was dispersed. It’s been very difficult for protestors to hold any [INDISCERNIBLE] in the recent days because of the huge number of the forces on the street. Many of them are armed. They have guns and they have tear gas and they clubs and they have harshly attacked protestors.

WERMAN: Right. Is that translating into sever casualties for the protestors?

FATHI: The state television said only 10 people have been killed. The state radio said 19 people have been killed. But it’s widely believed that the number is higher than that.

WERMAN: Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei holds ultimate power in Iran and he backs President Ahmadinejad. Is there any sense that the protestors will bow to the pressure and these protests will stop?

FATHI: It is very possible that they will have to stop the protests on the streets because it’s impossible for protestors to fight [INDISCERNIBLE] who are armed and they’re inflicting casualties on people. I wouldn’t be surprised if the street rallies and the street demonstrations stop within the next few days.

WERMAN: You know there’s all this talk of the establishment on one side and opposition on the other reaching some kind of dangerous climax. What kind of frame of mind is this putting the protestors in and you know the bystander citizens of Tehran?

FATHI: Yes exactly. There are many ordinary people who are not actually… They do not deny the Islamic Republic or they are not against the Islamic Republic. There’s just many people who have voted for another candidate and they feel very certain that their vote has not been counted. So the way they are being dealt with as protestors, as rioters, is making them even angrier.

WERMAN: And are protestors saying they’re going to be out on the streets again tomorrow?

FATHI: There have been a much smaller number. It is too risky for people to come out on the street and many people are saying that they don’t feel they’re achieving anything. They don’t feel they’re getting anything by coming and fighting on the streets.

WERMAN: The New York Times’ Nazila Fathi speaking with us from the Iranian capital. Thank you very much for your time.

FATHI: My pleasure.

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