
   Iranian riot  police, armed with tear gas and backed by helicopters, forced protestors off the  streets Saturday as the massive protests against last week’s elections appeared  to weaken. Nineteen protestors and policemen were killed Saturday, bringing the  week's death toll to 38. Unconfirmed reports placed the number killed at  Saturday at 150.
Iranian riot  police, armed with tear gas and backed by helicopters, forced protestors off the  streets Saturday as the massive protests against last week’s elections appeared  to weaken. Nineteen protestors and policemen were killed Saturday, bringing the  week's death toll to 38. Unconfirmed reports placed the number killed at  Saturday at 150.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s top  Muslim leader, accused “dirty Zionists" and “Zionist media” for being behind  charges that the results of the election were rigged. Iranian President Mahmoud  Ahmadinejad was declared the winner two hours after the voting stations closed a  week ago on Friday. His opponent, Mir Hussein Moussavi, lost even in his own  city, according to official election results.
Moussavi, buoyed by  millions of supporters, mostly students and women, challenged the country's  Muslim rulers and said he was “ready for martyrdom.” He demanded that the  election results be voided, in what was considered severe defiance of the  supreme Muslim clerics. 
During Saturday’s protests, police beat  demonstrators and used water cannons and tear gas to clear the streets in  Tehran, where only several thousand people gathered compared with tens of  thousands earlier on the week. 
Dozens of protestors were wounded and  treated at the Imam Khomeini hospital a day after Ayatollah Khamenei warned  opposition leaders to end the protests. One opposition leader said that a  planned rally for Saturday had been cancelled because of a lack of permit, and  an ally of Moussavi urged supporters not to march on Sunday.