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  Date / Time: 6/21/2009 1:52 AM UTC

  Beaten & Tear Gassed, DEATH TO IRANIAN TALIBAN FORCES?
  

  The main opposition candidate in Iran, Mir Hossein Moussavi, was said to be ready for "martyrdom" Saturday as thousands of protesters clashed with police in protests that defied warnings from Iran's supreme leader.
  Security forces made "a very large show of force" in midtown and southeastern Tehran, using tear gas and clubs to beat back protesters as clashes erupted during the unrest.
  This comes as demonstrators emerged on city streets to protest last week's elections in defiance of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's Friday pronouncement that protests must end.
  
  Meanwhile, the Facebook page of Iran's top opposition leader quoted the politician Saturday as saying he is preparing to die.
  
  Moussavi, who has led a protest against the government for the June 12 election, said he is preparing himself for "martyrdom."
  
  The authenticity of the message could not immediately be established.
  
  In Tehran, police fired guns in the air, and Iran's Press TV also reported the use of water cannons to disperse protesters. Watch police and protesters clash Saturday »
  
  Uniformed and plainclothes police were deployed around Revolution Square, the site of a major planned demonstration, and traffic was being turned away on a major thoroughfare leading to the square, a witness said.
  
  The forces confronted demonstrators who tried to avoid the thoroughfare and take side streets toward the square. Clashes erupted as forces used clubs to beat back protesters. See images of the clashes Saturday »
  
  Periodically, groups of armed police would fire rifles into the air to disperse protesters along the side streets near Revolution Square. Watch an Iranian studies professor discuss protest tactics »
  
  Cell phone service was brought down after 5:30 p.m. in the area, witnesses said.
  
  Police told protesters they had no permit to protest.
  
  Police also said Saturday that 400 security forces had been injured during the week's heavy demonstrations, and that public property had been damaged, Press TV reported.
  
  Three camouflaged men with shields were seen pushing a man in the opposite direction. The number of people on the streets and the traffic appears less than normal, but daily life is going on.
  
  A few thousand people who attempted to enter the site of a major planned demonstration in Tehran were blocked by heavily armed police, a witness said.
  
  Another witness said he was walking through a central square when he saw about 200 men with the Basiji militia, a security force that takes orders from the Iranian government. With some wearing government-issued helmets and shields, their presence was a hint of an ominous security presence.
  
  Elsewhere, another witness said hundreds of protesters were walking a mile from Revolution Square when some militia men dropped two tear gas canisters among the crowd to apparently dissuade them from gathering.
  
  Some of the crowd turned back to regroup.
  
  Armed police were seen in two of the Tehran squares where major demonstrations were to be held Saturday, a journalist there said.
  
  Two rallies had been scheduled to begin about 4 p.m. (7:30 a.m. ET) Saturday to protest a disputed presidential election, despite stern admonishments from Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who on Friday warned that protest organizers would be held responsible if the demonstrations led to bloodshed.
  
  Khamenei also declared the election a "definitive victory" for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and rejected allegations of vote-rigging . WatchKhamenei deny allegations of vote-rigging »
  
  Two people were killed and eight people were injured in a blast at the mausoleum of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in southern Tehran, Press TV reported .
  
  One of the dead was the attacker, the station said.
  
  Khomeini was the father of the Islamic Revolution that swept the shah of Iran from power in 1979. He is regarded as the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran. CNN could not independently confirm reports of a blast or who or what may have caused it. News coverage in Iran has been limited by government restrictions on international journalists.
  
  One scheduled rally was sponsored by supporters of Moussavi and Mehdi Karrubi, another of the three candidates who ran against Ahmadinejad in elections June 12. iReport.com: Share images from Iran
  
  "Often these protests can take on a life of their own, and if the leaders call off the protest, that does not mean the people will not come out on the streets and there will not be a resulting crackdown," said Reva Bhalla, an analyst with Stratfor, a global intelligence firm.
  
  Many who said they planned to attend the rallies wrote to one another on the social networking site Twitter early Saturday. Some wondered whether there would be violence at the protests.
  
  "Let the Qu'ran shield you. It's a mortal sin to kill anyone holding the Qu'ran. BRING your Qu'ran to protest!!!" one person wrote on Twitter. "We will try 2 keep this rally peaceful/silent as usual at every cost. Cant give them excuse 2 use force. Hope they wont," another said.
  
  CNN is not using the posters' names for safety reasons. Both said they were in Iran, but CNN could not verify that.
  
  The supreme leader called on those who don't believe the election results to use legal avenues, such as requesting a recounting of ballots in their presence.
  
  Meanwhile, the Iranian government said Saturday it was ready to randomly recount up to 10 percent of "ballot boxes."
  
  The Guardian Council, which supervises the country's elections, invited three candidates -- Moussavi, Karrubi and Mohsen Rezaie -- to its meeting Saturday, according to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency.
  
  Two of them, Moussavi and Karrubi, failed to show up. After Khamenei's speech Saturday, Amnesty International said his message "indicates the authorities' readiness to launch violent crackdowns if people continue to protest, which may cause a widespread loss of life."
  
  A top U.N. human rights official also said she was concerned about reports of excessive force and arrests at the protests. "The legal basis of the arrests that have been taking place, especially those of human rights defenders and political activists, is not clear," said Navi Pillay, high commissioner for human rights.
  
  The government has maintained that the post-election death toll stands at seven. Amnesty International said on Friday that reports suggest up to 15 people have died.
  
  An activist told CNN that the death toll had climbed to 32, with 12 of those victims in Tehran. Because of the Iranian government's restrictions on news gathering, CNN could not independently verify the reports
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