Protesters in Iran are 'fired up', as the Basij Militia uses tear gas on Mousavi supporters.

Large numbers of police officers blocked access to the university and fired tear gas into a crowd. Tens of thousands of opposition supporters sat in the streets about a mile back from the campus, cheering parts of Mr. Rafsanjanis speech, heard over loudspeakers. Many women in the crowd did not wear the covering customary at prayers, the witness said.

One of the people arrested was Shadi Sadr, a prominent lawyer and activist, who was bundled into a car and beaten with batons by plainclothes security officers, Amnesty International and a witness said. Ms. Sadr managed to escape briefly but was recaptured and driven to an undisclosed destination, Amnesty said. Government militiamen beat some protesters after the tear gas was fired, and people started marching onto the streets, the witness said.

People were silent and civilized, but they started demonstrating after the police shot tear gas, the witness said. It turned into another bloody scene. There were so many forces out there holding, and it was clear that they wanted to crush people again. There were so many people and so many forces that the protests spread to streets several miles away from the university.

Some people chanted, Fraud, crime, incompetent government, while others urged Mr. Rafsanjani to speak out forthrightly, saying, Rafsanjani, you are a traitor if you remain silent.

Mr. Rafsanjani, who runs two powerful state institutions, regularly leads the weekly prayer service, but Friday was the first time he had done so since the election.
Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani delivering his sermon on Friday.

Doubt has been created, Mr. Rafsanjani said. There are two currents. One doesnt have any doubt and is moving ahead with their job. And there are a large portion of the wise people who say they have doubts. We need to take action to remove this doubt. His remarks were translated by news agencies.

Mr. Rafsanjani said the turmoil after the ballot was a bitter period in which all were the losers, The Associated Press reported. Calling for national unity, he criticized the brutal official crackdown.

Sympathy must be offered to those who suffered from the events that occurred and reconcile them with the ruling system, he reportedly said. This is achievable. He also seemed to suggest that the government risked losing its credibility as the descendant of the 1979 Islamic Revolution led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Mr. Rafsanjani said it was vital to restore voters faith in the system, The A.P. said. That trust cannot be brought back in a day or a night, he said.

He added: We all have been harmed. Today more than ever we need unity. He also took issue with the authorities handling of the post-election unrest.

I speak as a person who has been with the revolution on a daily basis, he said. We knew what Imam Khomeini wanted. He didnt want the use of terror or arms, even in fights.

Mr. Rafsanjani said it was not necessary to continue holding the detainees in prison and added that Iran should not let enemies criticize or laugh at us for keeping its citizens in jail.

In what seemed an appeal for a new consensus to heal the profound rifts that have opened since the election, he said: We are all members of a family. I hope with this sermon we can pass through this period of hardships that can be called a crisis, according to a Reuters translation.

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