Iranians barred from staging protests in Dubai

Dubai Iranian residents have been barred from staging protests in Dubai as law enforcement authorities are concerned that the violence in Iran following the presidential elections could spill over into the UAE, a top police official said.

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Supporters of the reformist candidate Mir Hussain Mousavi staged demonstrations at the Iranian consulate in Dubai for four consecutive days in protest against the re-election of president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but they were dispersed on Thursday.

Ahmadinejad's opponents allege that the vote was rigged.

According to UAE government figures there are over 100,000 Iranians in the UAE, but Iranian consulate officials have put the number closer to 500,000.

"We don't want the power struggle between the two conflicting parties to be fought over here. We need to keep in mind that Ahmadinejad's supporters want to show their support too, which increases the possibility of a clash between the two protesting groups," Lieutenant-General Dahi Khalfan Tamim, Chief of Dubai Police told Gulf News.

Since the election results were announced, protesters flooded the streets of major Iranian cities and sporadic violence broke out.

"The Iranian ambassador here asked us to break the protest, even if by force, but we refused. We said that we will always deal with such matters in a civilised manner," he said.

On Wednesday, WAM carried a report denying rumours that Iranian protestors had been arrested or deported.

Shouting slogans in Persian in favour of Mir Hussain Mousavi, Iran's main opposition leader, they held placards and banners that displayed their sentiments in bold letters.

"The gatherings in the past four days were completely peaceful. The people were very cooperative with police officers present at the gathering.

"They were very understanding and cooperative when we dispersed the crowd today.

"We were acting on the basis that the permission was only for several days," Major-General Mohammad Eid Al Mansouri, Director of the General Department of Protective Security, organisations and Emergency, said.