Thousands of Iranians ignore leaders' threats, march in unauthorized rally - Los Angeles Times: Via Los Angeles Times.

As supporters of Mir-Hossein Mousavi shout out their support in Tehran, European leaders voice anger at the Saturday arrests of eight British Embassy staffers.

Reporting from Dubai, United Arab Emirates -- Thousands of Iranians disputing the reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad marched at an unauthorized rally today, defying truncheon-wielding security forces and dire threats by Iranian leaders.

Meanwhile, European leaders' hackles were raised by the arrest a day earlier of eight British Embassy staffers in Tehran, a move that has sharpened Iran's confrontation with the West over the disputed election and its violent aftermath. Several of the staffers, all Iranian nationals, were quickly released.

Supporters of Ahmadinejad's opponent, Mir-Hossein Mousavi, gathered at a mosque in northeastern Tehran during an annual commemoration for 72 Iranian politicians killed in a bombing 28 years ago.

Videos posted to YouTube purported to show demonstrators with hands the air in front of the Ghoba mosque, chanting boisterously in support of Mousavi.

According to a witness, who has previously provided accurate information to The Times, numerous opposition figures attended the rally, including presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi; Mousavi's wife, Zahra Rahnavard; and both the daughter and wife of Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a Mousavi supporter.

The witness said pro-government Basiji militiamen and plainclothes security officials on motorbikes surrounded the ralliers and that Mousavi himself addressed the gathering by cellphone, which was attached to a megaphone, but the witness could not hear what he said.

Protesters held their fingers up in the "V" sign as they filled the mosque as well as the surrounding side streets. A female protester, covered completely by a black chador, taunted some of the police.

"Who are you?" she demanded, according to the witness. "Are you Muslims?"

Dumbfounded security officials stood and watched, the witness said.

Iran accused the local British Embassy staff members of "playing major parts" in the recent unrest over the election, which many Iranians and independent experts consider fraudulent, according to a report by Fars, a pro-Ahmadinejad news agency.

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