Iran's president shrugs off protest

Protesters battled police and shouted their opposition from the rooftops, crying out "death to the dictator".

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's rival Mir Hossein Mousavi showed no sign of backing down from his claims that Friday's election was riddled by fraud.

He made a direct appeal to Iran's ruling clerics to annul the result, but his chances were considered remote.

Meanwhile on the streets, demonstrators torched bank facades and rubbish bins, smashed store windows and hurled rocks at anti-riot squads. Police responded with baton-wielding sweeps, sometimes targeting bystanders, while the regime shut down text messaging systems and pro-reform internet sites.

There was no official word on casualties.

Authorities had detained some of Mousavi's top aides, including the head of his web campaign, but many were released after being held overnight. Iran's deputy police chief, Ahmad Reza Radan, said about 170 people had been arrested. It was not known how many remained in custody.

Mr Mousavi has urged his supporters to channel their anger into peaceful acts of dissent. But the official clampdown on the internet blunted his attempt to get his message out.

In a news conference, Mr Ahmadinejad called the level of violence "not important from my point of view" and likened it to the intensity after a soccer game.

"Some believed they would win and then they got angry," he said. "It has no legal credibility. It is like the passions after a soccer match. The margin between my votes and the others is too much and no one can question it."