MOSCOW, November 4 (RIA Novosti) - Thousands of Iranians took to the streets in Tehran on Wednesday to mark the 30th anniversary of the U.S. embassy takeover, Iranian and Western media reported.
Fifty-two U.S. diplomats were held by students for 444 days, with the United States cutting off diplomatic ties with Iran five months into the crisis in April 1980, since when Washington and Tehran have had no direct diplomatic relations.
Several thousands gathered near the former embassy building, chanting anti-U.S. and anti-Israeli slogans "to show wrath against the U.S. hegemonic policies in the world," the country's ISNA news agency said.
Several hundred supporters of Iran's opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi have also gathered in downtown Tehran to protest against the results of the disputed reelection of the current president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Police had to use batons and tear gas to disperse opposition activists chanting "Death to the dictator." Dozens of protestors were beaten or arrested, AFP said.
Protestors set rubbish bins ablaze and smashed the windows of a bus, according to the IRNA news agency. Two policemen are believed to have been hospitalized with various injuries.
Reuters said police used firearms against the opposition activists, injuring some of them.
Ahmadinejad's re-election triggered mass protests by defeated candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi's supporters in June. At least 30 people were reported to have been killed and about 1,000 arrested in post-election violence in the capital Tehran and some other cities, in Iran's most severe unrest since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
