Iranian police make arrests at vigil for US terror victims

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Iranian police make arrests at vigil for US terror victimsTEHRAN, Sept 27 (AFP) - Iranian police arrested nearly 10 people after breaking up a candle-lit vigil Thursday night in a main Tehran square in memory of the victims of the terror attacks on the United States.The arrests were made by plainclothes policemen after uniformed security forces began breaking up the vigil by some 600 young people in Madar, or mother, square in northern Tehran, said an AFP correspondent at the scene.Security forces moved into the square and ordered the crowds to disperse after the participants, mostly aged between 16 and 35, placed candles around a statue.They were later seen pushing, or running after the participants with battons, sometimes even kicking them.The police action came some 30 minutes after the young people surrounded the square, standing side by side, holding flowers and candles in their hands in memory of the thousands of victims of the September 11 attacks.Several minutes of silence were observed before groups of people began singing an old Iranian patriotic song.Others chanted "Death to terrorism," and "Death to the Taliban," while some chanted: "America, condolences, condolences," or "Terrorists get lost," and "Death to (Osama) bin Laden," the Saudi-born militant and prime suspect in the attacks.It was the second major public gathering in Tehran in memory of the attacks in New York and Washington that Iran swiftly condemned.On September 18, Iranian police prevented around 100 young people from assembling at the same square in sympathy for the more than 6,000 victims of the bombings.Thursday's gathering also comes just one day after Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ruled out cooperating in any US-led anti-terror coalition.