TEHRAN, IRAN - Iran's national police commander said demonstrators will face a fierce crackdown if their "illegal" activities continue, the semiofficial Fars news agency reported Wednesday after several days of antigovernment protests and of statements from government officials calling for the arrest of opposition political leaders.
"We advise this movement to end their activities," Fars quoted Iran's national police chief, Brig. Gen. Ismail Ahmadi Moghaddam, as saying. "Otherwise those who violate the order will be fiercely confronted, based on the law," he said.
Witnesses reported protests and clashes Wednesday in Qom, Isfahan and Najafabad, where supporters of dissident cleric Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, who died Sunday, battled police and paramilitary forces.
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