The demonstrators, protesting Israel’s occupation of occupied Al Quds, took to the streets for the second time in a week in response to a call from the authorities and joined the throng heading for weekly prayers, an AFP correspondent witnessed.
State television said millions of people had turned out across the country, not only in Tehran but also in such cities as Isfahan, Shiraz and Mashhad.
Former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani accused Israel and Western allies of exploiting tension in Iran to undermine the country.
“The Zionists and Christians linked to them are planning and benefiting from events to divide us and distance young Iranians from the revolution, but they will fail as they did in the past,” Rafsanjani, a leading conservative, said during Friday prayers at Tehran University.
Rafsanjani also warned students against provocations, in a clear reference to the chain of student protests sparked this month by the sentencing to death of pro-reform academic Hashem Aghajari.
“Why act in a way to satisfy the enemy, that Israel be satisfied and that inside the country, we create unnecessary tensions and hatreds,” he asked.
The demonstration comes at a time of heightened political tension between reformist and conservative currents in Iran, and is considered a show of support for conservatives, who control the judiciary and security services.
The uniformed Basij, a volunteer militia with branches in every town, were wearing white cloths over their shoulders to symbolize martyrdom. Some were wearing fake explosive belts, mimicking Palestinian suicide bombers.
Women members, draped in black chadors, could be heard chanting “Sharon commits crimes and America supports him,” a reference to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
Demonstrators also carried posters of Al Quds’ Al-Aqsa mosque depicted behind bars, and even young children could be heard shouting the usual “Death to Israel, Death to America” slogans.
Al-Quds Day was established by the Islamic Republic’s founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini following the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Last week, hundreds of thousands of people gathered for Friday prayers to hear Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei denounce student protests sparked by the sentencing of Aghajari, an ally of moderate President Mohammed Khatami.
Aghajari was condemned for blasphemy on Nov 6, but student protests continued, even after Khamenei ordered the judiciary to review the verdict.
On Nov 11, Khamenei warned the use of “popular force” to suppress the protests, a reference to the Basij. Ten days later, after clashes between militia members and students, the protests were banned outright.
The Supreme Leader again warned students late on Thursday not to undermine the Islamic regime through their actions.
“If someone inside the universities is working against Islamic Iran, consciously or unconsciously, he has the same objectives as the CIA or Mossad,” Khamenei said referring to the US and Israeli intelligence services, in remarks on state television.
Friday is the 55th anniversary of a UN resolution that partitioned the former British mandate of Palestine and led to the creation of Israel. Control over occupied Al Quds was divided between Israel and Jordan, but the Jewish state captured the eastern part of the city in the 1967 Middle East war and later annexed it.—AFP