A Top Cleric Blasts Iran Crisis Response
Thousands of protestors marched through the streets of Tehran today in support of the defeated presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, but they were driven back by police and tear gas.
They still want the June election results to be overturned, and hoped for a clear message of support from one of Iran's most powerful clerics, Hashemi Rafsanjani, reports CBS News correspondent Elizabeth Palmer.
At a packed Friday prayer service, he described the current political instability as a crisis, and demanded the release of hundreds of protestors who've been arrested. He also called for more freedom of speech.
To Iran's hard-line conservatives, all this will sound like an attack on the government. But it wasn't enough for the crowd outside.
"Traitor," they shouted. "Death to the dictator."
But in a sign that the radical phase of this protest may be over, their champion Mousavi was inside listening, leading to speculation he will join a new, more moderate opposition movement.
"I don't think it's the style of any of the opposition leaders in the present crisis to come out confrontationally," said Massoumeh Torfeh, an Iran analyst. "I think they will tend to go slowly and surely."
That will be disappointing news to the young protestors who still want bigger, faster change than any candidate seems able to deliver.
