TEHRAN, Iran (CNN)  -- A defiant and chaotic protest sprouted in and around a public square Monday despite a warning by Iran's Revolutionary Guard against the kind of street demonstrations that have roiled Iran for more than a week, witnesses said.



Security forces patrol the streets of Tehran on Monday.



Thousands of Iranians congregated and passed through Haft-e Tir Square, but riot police and the pro-government Basij militia confronted them and smacked their batons against their shin guards, making loud cracking sounds that seemed like gunshots, the witnesses said.



As the protests continued, an election official with the Interior Ministry said the "box-by-box details" of the ballots -- which were confidential in previous elections -- would be released in response to claims that the election was rigged, Press TV reported.



Iran's Guardian Council declared President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the winner of the election with 62.63 percent of the vote. His closest rival, Mir Hossein Moussavi, received 33.75 percent, surprising many experts who expected him to win.



Iranians have continued protesting the results by taking to the streets.



Most stores around the square were closed as the unrest reverberated, with some guarding against damage by erecting steel fences on their windows.



Helicopters hovered overhead as the security forces wielded batons and used a spray to push the crowd out of the square. After that, police chased down demonstrators in nearby alleys and streets, with protesters and lawmen playing cat and mouse over several tension-filled hours until the crowd began to thin out around dusk.



There were isolated face-offs and quarrels that broke out between demonstrators and the riot police and the Basij militia -- a volunteer paramilitary force that takes orders from the Revolutionary Guard, a military unit under the direct control of Iran's supreme leader.



There were no reports of serious injuries, but there were at least eight arrests, witnesses said.



"Thirty years after the revolution, this is what we get," one man said dejectedly, watching the noisy and chaotic scene as he remembered the birth and the promise of Iran's Islamic revolution in 1979.



The location was the spot where a vigil was to be held in memory of Neda, a young woman who became a symbol for the opposition after her death was caught on camera. While Internet postings on Twitter, Facebook and an Iranian opposition leader's Web site had mentioned a possible rally, it was unclear whether people who were at the square were there for a vigil.



Some people were clad in black, a symbol of mourning, but placards and banners about Neda and candles have not been seen. However, security forces and demonstrators appeared at the square at the time the vigil was to be held.  Watch how women are on front line of protests »



Meanwhile, a message on opposition leader Mir Hossein Moussavi's Facebook page, which could not be authenticated, called for a peaceful demonstration in Tehran on Thursday to honor the dead.



"We are waiting for the route of the march to be announced as well as the location of the sit-in," the message said. "Presently the mausoleum of the founder of the Islamic Republic seems to be the safest place for the sit-in, so that we can mourn for our martyrs in a place that is close to the spirit of that free man.



Demonstrators Monday had brushed off a warning from the Revolutionary Guard that people who "disturb the peace and stand up to security forces" would be met with a strong response.



The state-run Islamic Republic News Agency quoted the Revolutionary Guard as saying "the guardians of the Islamic revolution and the courageous Basiji together with the security forces following the orders of the supreme leader and following him unquestioningly."



It said the authorities "are determined to act strongly to return peace and tranquility to society ... and to clean the country of these plotters and hooligans."



Iran's Revolutionary Guard is directly under the control of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and enforces the government's Islamic codes and morality. With more than 200,000 members, it is tasked with overseeing the country's crucial interests
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