IRAN OPPOSITION LEADERS ATTACKED AT RALLY

       Hardliners attacked senior proreform leaders in the streets as tens of thousands marched in competing mass demonstrations by the opposition and government supporters. Opposition protesters, chanting "death to the dictator", hurled stones and bricks in clashes with security forces.
       The opposition held its first major street protests since mid-July, bringing out thousands in demonstrations in several parts of the capital. In some cases only several blocks away, tens of thousands marched in government-sponsored rallies marking an annual anti-Israel commemoration.
       The commemoration, known as Quds Day, is a major political occasion for the government - a day for it to show its anti-Israeli credentials and its support for the Palestinians.
       During a speech for the rallies, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad railed against Israel and the West, questioning whether the Holocaust occurred and calling it a pretext for occupying Arab land. Quds is the Arabic word for Jerusalem.
       But the opposition was determined to turn the day into a show of its survival and continued strength despite a fierce three-month-old crackdown against it since the disputed June 12 presidential election.
       The four opposition leaders joined the protests, in direct defiance of commands by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who barred anti-government rallies on Quds Day.
       Tens of thousands joined the government-organised marches, starting in various parts of the capital and proceeding to Tehran University.
       Police and security forces, along with pro-government Basij militiamen, fanned out along main sqares and avenues and in many cases tried to keep nearby opposition protesters away from the Quds Day rallies to prevent clashes, witnesses said.
       At one of the several opposition rallies around the city, a group of hardliners pushed through the crowd and attacked former president Mohamad Khatami, a cleric who is one of the most prominent to a reformist Web site.
       The report cited witnesses as saying the opposition activists rescued Khatami and quickly repelled the assailants.
       Another reformist Webs site said Khatami's turban was disheveled and he was forced to leave the march.
       Hardliners tried to attack the main opposition leader, Mir Hossein Mousavi, when he joined another protest elsewhere in the city, a witness said. Supporters rushed Mousavi into his car when the hardliners approached, and the vehicle sped away as his supporters pushed the hardliners back.
       In one of the main Tehran squares, Haft-e Tir, baton-toting security forces tried to break up one of the opposition marched, and were met with protesters throwing stones and bricks, witnesses said.