Iranian lawmakers denounced Monday’s protests in Tehran and called for the execution of two opposition leaders for inciting the demonstrations, Iran’s state-run Press TV reported Tuesday.

Members of the Iranian parliament issued fiery chants against opposition leaders and former presidential candidates Mehdi Karrubi and Mir Hossein Moussavi
Press TV aired video Tuesday of lawmakers chanting “Moussavi, Karroubi … execute them.”

Lawmakers also named former President Mohammad Khatami in some of the death chants.

Iranian leaders have praised Egypt’s revolution, but Monday when protesters in Iran took to the streets the government cracked down hard.

Last week, the Iranian government rounded up activists after Karrubi and Moussavi called for supporters to gather at Azadi Square — the site of mass protests by Iran’s opposition movement after the disputed 2009 presidential elections.

Despite the security crackdown, tens of thousands of demonstrators marched in Tehran Monday.

Patrolling security forces battled protesters with batons and tear gas for much of the day.

The large crowd was largely cleared from the city’s streets by nightfall and the main squares near Tehran University remained free of police, security forces or protesters

Dozens of demonstrators were detained during Monday’s protests while internet videos showed others had been chased and beaten.

One person was shot and killed during the protests, according to Iran’s semiofficial Fars news agency. Several others were injured and listed in serious condition as a result of the shooting, which the Iranian government blamed on “agitators and seditionists.”

Video uploaded to YouTube showed throngs of demonstrators marching, burning posters of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and in one instance beating a man who appeared to try to remove a poster from the hands of protesters.

Other YouTube video showed police in riot gear pursuing dozens of people running away from the baton-wielding officers.

Other videos show similar protests going on in other cities in Iran such as Shiraz and Isfahan.

Reporting from Iran proved extremely difficult Monday — foreign journalists were denied visas, accredited journalists living in the country were restricted from covering the demonstrations and internet speeds slowed to a crawl in an apparent attempt to both limit protest organizing and restrict information from being transmitted out of the country.

(Source: CNN)