Opposition rally against Quds Day in Iran

In Iran, thousands of opposition supporters have held protests in the capital Tehran. They were in competition with government-sponsored mass rallies to mark Quds Day. It is the annual anti-Israel commemoration that reflects the nation's sympathy with the Palestinian people.

Quds is the Arabic word for Jerusalem. The ceremony was established in 1979 by the leader of the Islamic Revolution and founder of present-day Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

During a speech before Friday prayers, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad railed against Israel and the West, calling the Holocaust a pretext for occupying Arab land.