Clashes in Tehran echo worst of 1979 violence

Iranian security forces and leftist demonstrators traded gunfire in central Tehran Sunday in some of the worst clashes since the 1979 Islamic revolution, said Tehran residents contacted by telephone from here.

The clashes came a few days before Iran's presidential election next Friday to elect a successor to assassinated President Muhammad Ali Rajai. Mujahideen guerrilla leader Massoud Rajavi, contacted in France, where he fled with former President Abolhassan Bani-Sadr in July, said the demonstrations were called to mark the seventh day since the execution of 300 Mujahideen members in Iran.

As the shooting died down, the revolutionary guards carried out mass arrests, searching everyone on the streets, residents said. Many school-children were among those detained.