Iran protesters take to streets as regime marks 30th anniversary of US Embassy seizure

Paintball guns were used to mark selected protestors for arrest during June protests, but witnesses on Wednesday said they appeared to employed as a non-lethal form of intimidation. The pellets from these guns typically bruise and sometimes cause bleeding when they strike unprotected skin.

"They found a nice target [and] that was anyone; they just started firing," said this witness, a well-educated professional. "For the first time people were actually sticking together and not running away, but saying, 'let's hold out, let's hold out.'"

"Mostly it was women being hit because I saw a lot of the women pass me, [dozens] of women pass me, all of which had been hit; older women who had taken paintball hits to the chest and legs and were covered in orange paint," said the witness. "Every time they went at the crowd, everybody booed."

"I wouldn't say it's a victory, but it's not a loss. There was definitely a message put out there," said this witness. "It was important that everyday people in their cars [and] businesses, got to see that women were being attacked by people with batons and [paint] guns. And they get to smell tear gas for the first time."

"It's horrible to call that a victory, but the ugliness is something to [behold]," he said.

Senior officials of the Islamic Republic call the protests "illegal" and alleged they were fomented by the US and the West to undermine the regime. They have accused Mr. Mousavi, a former prime minister, and fellow presidential candidate and former parliament speaker Mehdi Karroubi, who was reported injured on Wednesday in a direct tear gas attack while joining the protests, of treason.

Delivering the keynote speech at the official rally prominent conservative politician Gholamali Hadadadel said these men could not consider themselves "disciples of Imam Khomeini" because their statements were "making the enemies of the revolution happy."

He also reinforced the anti-American message from Ayatollah Khamenei on Tuesday and said that Barack Obama's overtures toward Iran were not matched with actions.

Demonstrating kids

One observer of the official event outside the walls of the former US Embassy said the rally—which traditionally includes black-clad students wearing headbands with messages supporting the regime, bussed in to wave banners—was larger than in most years, but not particularly enthusiastic.

"Like usual," he said, "school kids busy with their mischievous fun—not even listening."

Security was tightest around that old embassy compound, where chants of "Death to America!" rang throughout the morning. But not far beyond that tight cordon, protesters sought to gather in their own show of force.

One witness heard the chant: "Khamenei is a murderer; supreme religious rule is over" and protestors trampled a banner-size portrait of Khamenei that was laid on the street. This witness watched plainclothes men on motorcycles chase people down in his neighborhood of Abbas Abad. He said he heard shots fired, though he didn't know if they were bullets, tear gas canisters being launched or paintball rounds.

Later he said: "I am hopeful as a whole," about prospects for the longevity of the opposition movement, which on Wednesday had difficulty overcoming cut mobile phone connections and text messaging services and slow internet.

But cell phone videos that did emerge of the protests and clashes showed groups of several hundred dispersing and regrouping, as they were attacked by security forces. All witnesses contacted yesterday said the opposition would not disappear.

"I expected violence, but the violence exceeded my expectations," said one women not far from the US Embassy, on Taleghani Avenue. "I thought it would be milder." She saw riot police wearing body armor and basiji militiamen, all on motorcycles and some using electric tasers, attacking "very violently" the mixed crowd of protesters.

This witness said she was "satisfied" with the opposition turnout, and added: "I feel more hopeful about the future of the movement."

Said another witness in Tehran: "It will continue, 100 percent. Be certain [of that]."

Tara Mahtafar contributed to this report from Washington.

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