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TEHRAN: Iranian police fired tear-gas on Thursday as thousands of demonstrators defied government warnings and staged a march to commemorate the anniversary of bloody student unrest in 1999, witnesses said.Protesters chanted "Death to the dictator" as they gathered in the streets around Tehran University, the epicentre of the violence 10 years ago.Police deployed reinforcements after a first volley of tear-gas failed to disperse the demonstrators, who continued to grow in number, the witnesses said. Police then fired a second volley.Officers in riot gear had been out in force to try to stifle any gathering as the authorities remained on tenterhooks following the wave of protests over last month's hotly disputed re-election of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that saw hundreds of thousands take to the streets.The authorities had warned of a harsh response to any commemoration of the 1999 violence in which at least one student was killed and dozens wounded when hardline vigilantes stormed student dormitories, according to an official toll.The warning was issued after the G8 world powers expressed "serious concern" over last month's violence which left at least 20 people dead.Groups of students have held small commemorative gatherings in previous years, but Tehran governor Morteza Tamadon issued a blunt warning for this year's anniversary."If some people make moves that are contrary to security initiatives under the influence of anti-revolutionary networks, they will be trampled under the feet of our alert people," he told the official IRNA news agency.Witnesses said leaflets had been distributed in several Tehran squares urging people to join Thursday's march.Iranian authorities have banned all gatherings amid a fierce crackdown on protesters, reformists, journalists and political activists since the protests over the official results of the June 12 presidential election, which Ahmadinejad's main challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi called a "shameful fraud."An Iranian employee of the British embassy and a French lecturer also remained in custody, amid charges by the Islamic regime that Western governments have been interfering in the post-election disturbances, the most serious in its 30-year history.