REPORT: Iran protesters rally again, defying warning of crackdown

Anti-government protesters demonstrated in Iran on Sunday in defiance of a warning by the authorities of a tough crackdown, extending for a fourth day one of the most audacious challenges to the clerical leadership since pro-reform unrest in 2009.
 
Police in the centre of Tehran fired water cannon to try to disperse demonstrators, according to pictures on social media.
 
Video posted online also showed a clash between protesters and police in the city of Khoramdareh in Zanjan province in the country's northwest. Reuters was unable immediately to verify the authenticity of the footage.
 
There were also reports of demonstrations in the cities of Sanandaj and Kermanshah in western Iran as well as Chabahar in the southeast and Ilam and Izeh in the southwest.
 
Tens of thousands of people have protested across the country since Thursday against the Islamic Republic's unelected clerical elite and Iranian foreign policy in the region. They have also chanted slogans in support of political prisoners.
 
Demonstrators initially vented their anger over economic hardships and alleged corruption but they took on a rare political dimension, with a growing number of people calling on Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to step down.
 
Videos showed protesters in central Tehran chanting "Down with the dictator!", in an apparent reference to Khamenei.
 
Protesters in Khorramabad in western Iran shouted "Khamenei, shame on you, leave the country alone!".
 
The government said it would temporarily restrict access to the Telegram and Instagram messaging apps, state television quoted an informed source as saying.
 
President Hassan Rouhani was due to address the nation on television on Sunday night.
 
An Iranian reached by telephone, who asked not to be named, said there was a heavy presence of police and security forces in the heart of the capital.
 
"I saw a few young men being arrested and put into police van. They don't let anyone assemble," he said.
 
In the northwestern city of Khoy, a video showed a protester being arrested by police while a crowd shouted "Police, go and arrest the thieves!". The authenticity of the video, like others, could not immediately be verified.
       
BREAKING TABOO
 
Demonstrators also shouted: "Reza Shah, bless your soul." Such calls are evidence of a deep level of anger and break a taboo. The king ruled Iran from 1925 to 1941 and his Pahlavi dynasty was overthrown in a revolution in 1979 by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Islamic Republic's first leader.
 
The protests are the biggest since unrest in 2009 that followed the disputed re-election of then-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
 
Demonstrators denounced high prices, corruption and mismanagement. Unemployment stood at 12.4 percent in this fiscal year, up 1.4 points from the previous year. About 3.2 million Iranians are jobless, out of a total population of 80 million.
 
The demonstrations are particularly troublesome for Rouhani's government because he was elected on a promise to guarantee rights to freedom of expression and assembly.