12 JUNE, 1980 TEHERAN, IRAN ( REUTERS TEHERAN)


GENERAL TOP VIEW: Crowd clapping hands at rally of Mujahedin supporters in stadium opposite U.S. Embassy
SV: Woman speaker addressing large crowd
GV: Crowds running from their seats as fighting breaks out
SV ZOOM OUT: From gateway TO stadium showing people running and throwing stones on top of gate. General fighting.
GV: Demonstrators taking cover as gunfire breaks out. (2 shots)
SV: Injured being taken into building (3 shots)
TOP VIEW: Injured photographer bleeding from face and chest and leg, carried across rooftop and lowered into crowd
GV: Smoke bombs exploding near entrance and crowd throwing stones at each other
TOP VIEW: Demonstrators with burning torches throwing stones
GV: Mujahedin supporters on roof throwing stones at demonstrators outside stadium. ZOOM INTO people taking cover outside.
GV: Mujahedin supporters throwing stones inside stadium and demonstrators throwing stones at each other
GV ZOOM OUT F ROM: Crowd throwing stones onto the Mujahedin supporters in the stadium.

(2.58) TELERECORDING

Background: Hundreds of people were injured in Teheran, when a major rally by Moslem leftists ended in rioting. Fighting broke out near the American Embassy as about thirty thousand supporters of the Mujahedin, a radical Islamic movement, were confronted by thousands of stone-throwing Hezbollahi - a Moslem fundamentalist group.

SYNOPSIS: The Mujahedin supporters had gathered in the Amjadiyeh sports stadium to hear a call for protection from their leader Massoud Rajavi.

Other speakers complained about the Government's failure to stop repeated attacks on the movement.

When fighting broke out near the gates the crowds ran for safety.

Thousands of Hezbollahi pelted them with stones. The Mujahedin have strong links with Iran's left. Their group's religious nature is symbolised by head-scarves worn by its women members. They were declared legal last year and have offices in major towns but they've come under growing pressure from Islamic hardliner.

Police, army and revolutionary guards fired int he air to try to disperse the mobs. Tear gas was also used, in what turned out to be one of Iran's biggest riots for months.

Most of the casualties were injured by stones or had knife wounds.

An Iranian photographers covering the riot from a rooftop was hit in the face with a stray bullet. He was lowered precariously from his vantage point. A young boy with a gunshot wound to the leg bled to death before he could be treated.

When the two groups failed to disperse, the Revolutionary Guards filled the area with teargas.

The clash was symptomatic of the political divisions existing in Iran more than fifteen months after the revolution.

The rioters countered with newspaper torches set ablaze to neutralise the effects of the teargas.

The ???jahedin claim they have repeatedly been the targets of extreme Moslems. Eight of their supporters, they say, have been killed by hardliner this year. There were dozens of teargas victims. Some lay unconscious in the rubble-strewn streets as more rocks were burled from rooftops above them.

The fighting raged for hours inside the Stadium, which was said to have figured in the United States attempt to rescue fifty hostages from the American Embassy across the road.

The fighting was the worst in the city for two months, When it finally ended three hundred people needed hospital treatment.