Great deeds call as militia beat crowds in Tehran

IRAN’S President began a contentious second term yesterday, vowing to strive for ‘‘national greatness’’ as protesters confronted police firing tear gas and swinging truncheons in the streets outside the Parliament where he was sworn in.

Battered by a weeks-long protest movement alleging fraud in his re-election and weakened by challenges in his own conservative camp, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said he would dedicate himself to serving the Iranian people and to bold steps on the world stage.

‘‘It is not important who voted for whom. What we need is national greatness,’’ he said in a speech broadcast live on television after he was sworn in by the judiciary chief, Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi. ‘‘We are representing a great nation. It needs great decisions and great deeds.’’

As he spoke, hundreds and possibly thousands of demonstrators tried to push their way into Tehran’s surrounding Baharestan Square.

Thousands of security forces and plainclothes Basiji militia- men on motorcycles chased and arrested them, according to witnesses and accounts in the reformist online media.

Iran’s reporting restrictions hindered efforts to gauge the scale of the demonstration.

At least 10 people were detained by police, witnesses told Associated Press. Those detained included protesters in black T-shirts to show grief over Mr Ahmadinejad’s inauguration.

Mr Ahmadinejad’s re-election has sparked regular street clashes between usually green-clad supporters of losing presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi and security forces. It also has pitted pillars of the establishment against each other.

The Obama Administration has said it would recognise Mr Ahmadinejad as elected leader, and Britain’s Foreign Office said Simon Gass, the ambassador to Tehran, would attend the inauguration. The US, Britain, France and Germany have said they would not send the customary note of congratulations.

Mr Ahmadinejad responded with characteristic defiance. ‘‘Some powers have said they will recognise the government but will not send a congratulatory message. We do not value your congratulations and we don’t value your smiles,’’ he said in the parliamentary chamber.

About 50 of the 290 legislators skipped the session of Parliament and some left the chamber while he spoke, the website parlemannews.ir reported.

On Tuesday, security forces arrested Mir-Hamid Hasanzadeh, a Mousavi aide, the news website tabnak.ir reported yesterday. The arrest is part of a sweeping crackdown on reformist politicians and journalists. There is an ongoing mass trial, in which defendants locked in solitary confinement for weeks have delivered incriminating confessions broadcast on television. Despite this, protests have continued.

Meanwhile, a prominent Iranian MP said authorities are investigating whether to charge three Americans who allegedly entered the country illegally from Iraq with spying.