Anti-riot police deployed in the streets of Tehran Saturday with the count pointing to a massive victory by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Friday's presidential election.
According to the AP, police gathered around key government buildings and mobile phone text messaging blocked in a bid to block communication tools of the pro-reform movement of Mir Hossein Mousavi.
A statement from Mousavi posted on his Web site called on his supporters to resist a "governance of lie and dictatorship."
Outside the Interior Ministry, which directed Friday's voting, security forces set up a cordon. An expected announcement on the full outcome was temporarily put on hold. No reason was conveyed for the delay.
"I'm warning that I won't surrender to this manipulation," said the Mousavi statement on the Web on Saturday. "The outcome of what we've seen from the performance of officials ... is nothing but shaking the pillars of the Islamic Republic of Iran sacred system and governance of lie and dictatorship."
He warned "people won't respect those who take power through fraud" and called the decision to announce Ahmadinejad winner of the elction was a "treason to the votes of the people." The headline on one of Mousavi's Web sites: "I won't give in to this dangerous manipulation."
Meanwhile, Guardians Council (GC) spokesman Abbasali Kadkhodaie said 82 percent of the eligible Iranians turned out in the 10th Presidential Elections on Friday. He said while the GC initially anticipated 70 percent voter turnout, the figure rose to over 82 percent, according to the latest reports attained.
