Mousavi defys protest ban

Mir Hossein Mousavi and his supporters have merged on the streets of the Iranian capital, Tehran, in defiance of a government ban on protests. Mr Mousavi claims that there were several "obvious violations" of electoral procedure in Friday's poll, claims denied by Mr Ahmadinejad.

The demonstrators congregated with Mr Mousavi, who was making his first public appearance since the election, in Tehran's Revolution Square. The crowd chanted pro-Mousavi slogans and shouted "Down with the dictatorship" and "We want freedom. These protests follow the violence seen on Saturday following the announcement that President Ahmadinejad had been re-elected to office. Many Iranians believe that voting rigging has occurred and refuse to accept the election result. Mr Mousavi and his fellow opposition candidates have called for a re-run of the polls.

Despite the government warning Mr Mousavi that he would be held responsible for the actions of his supporters, he has pressed ahead with today's rally. Zahra Rahnavard, Mousavi's wife, says that they will continue with the protests. In a statement she said "We will stand until the end".

Today's demonstrations were triggered by Mohsen Rezai, a fellow oppostion candidate, filed an official complaint to Iran's guardian council. It is claimed that a lack of ballot papers denied millions of people the right to vote and that elsewhere voting rigging has occurred. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, supreme leader of Iran, was upheld Friday's election result and has urged the 12-member guardian council to "consider precisely" their decision on the ballot. The council has said that they will meet opposition candidates on Tuesday and expect to make a ruling next week.

Advances in technology such as facebook, youtube, blogging and twitter mean that it is no easier for opponents to organise these protests and spread dissent online. The government has tried to prevent this new cyber-dissent by banning webpages and downing SMS networks. Reports say that in response hackers have downed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's website, the site, www.ahmadinejad.ir, now simply displays the message 'The maximum number of user reached, Server is too busy, please try again later...'. One hacker has declared "There is a Cyberwar going on" and encouraged others to overload government websites.