Iran's Karrubi Says Street Protests Should Be Allowed

TEHRAN (Reuters) -- Iran's moderate defeated presidential candidate Mehdi Karrubi said the authorities should allow street protests without being suppressed by armed forces, his website reported, a few hours after Mahmud Ahmadinejad sworn in as president.

"Using frightening methods to suppress people will bear no result. Allow people to protest in the streets and to chant slogans...an imposed state of security will harm our national security...mass arrests of moderates and having such mass trials will endanger the country's national interests," the "Etemad-e Melli" website reported.