Iran Protests Spread to 18 Cities (NewYork Times) 7/13
Regime Bans Demonstrations (Reuters)7/12
Police/Vigilantes Crackdown on Protests (AP)7/12
Unrest Threatens to Spin Out of Control(Stratfor) 7/13
Earlier reporting from July 11
July 13, 1999
New York Times
TEHERAN, Iran -- The most widespread and sustained protests
since Iran's revolution two decades ago spread throughout the
country Monday, while security police and their vigilantesupporters
moved to crush pro-democracy student demonstrators outsideTeheran
University.
Students demonstrated in 18 cities and towns, including major
cosmopolitan cities like Tabriz, Shiraz and Isfahan and moretraditional
cities like Mashad and Yazd, Iran's official news agency reported.
Wielding batons and lobbing tear gas canisters, the securityforces
emptied Teheran University Monday evening in a campaign to crushthe
demonstrations. In Teheran, students who had gathered inside thegates
of the sprawling university complex in the heart of the capitalfainted from
tear gas that could be smelled more than a mile away.
"Filthy swine! Filthy swine!" one red-faced student screamed overand
over from inside the cramped quarters of one of the caged-invehicles.
"Jerk!" yelled another. Others yelled obscenities that are seldomheard in
public in Iran.
One woman, wrapped in the all-encompassing black chador, cursedthe
clergy with obscenities. A number of people were injured andreceived
assistance from health personnel in a blood transfusion truckand
passersby.
Dozens of injured students were taken to the campus mosque for
treatment, and a parade of ambulances streamed in and out ofthe
campus as a voice on a loudspeaker called all medical students tohelp.
Students set a huge bonfire to try to neutralize the tear gas, onewitness
said.
The vigilantes, fervent revolutionaries who serve as volunteersfor the
regime, carried cables, chains and batons as they emerged fromthe
government-owned buses that parked near the university, thewitness
said. The students had intended to stage an all-night sit-in, butby
midnight, most of them had left the campus.
The demonstrations -- and the crackdown -- reflect a deep struggleover
the course of Iran's revolution. Students are impatient with theslow pace
of reforms promised by President Mohammed Khatami. The studentsare
not calling for a change in the Islamic system of government,rather for a
quickening of the movement towards democracy and the rule of law.
On the other side are the diehard Islamic revolutionaries, some ofthem in
positions of power, some of them veterans of Iran's long war withIraq,
who take their lead from Iran's Supreme leader, Ayatollah AliKhamenei,
and believe that the country's moves towards democracy are abetrayal
of revolutionary purism.
Khatami does not control the police and security forces, whohave
enraged and frightened many Iranians by a campaign of intimidationthat
included the murders of prominent intellectuals as well aspolitical attacks
on Khatami's allies in the government.
The demonstrations and the crackdowns do not mean that Iran'sIslamic
Republic is in jeopardy. "We should not assume that this movementcould
turn into a revolution," said an editorial Monday in thereformist
newspaper, Neshat. "It's neither nor possible nor desirable."
The five days of rage were sparked by the passage by Iran'sparliament
of a tough new press law and by the closure of Salam, apopular
left-leaning Islamic newspaper.
Security forces and vigilantes stormed a dormitory at TeheranUniversity
on Thursday night and beat students as they slept, pushing somefrom
second- and third-story windows. Although the official death tollstood at
two, Iran's newspapers, quoting students, claimed that betweenfive and
eight students had died.
As striking as the extent of the protests throughout the countryis the form
they are taking. Until now, criticisms of Ayatollah Khamenei, whois in
charge of the armed forces, the security and intelligenceapparatus, and
radio and television, were made privately. Now the criticismof
Khamenei, who lacks the religious credentials of his predecessor,the
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and has resisted any embrace ofreform,
has burst into the open.
In an effort to calm the highly charged atmosphere, Khameneion
Monday delivered an emotional speech condemning the attack by
security forces on a dormitory last week after the first protests.He spoke
to a hand-picked crowd of thousands in a cavernous hall reservedsolely
for his use.
"This bitter incident has broken my heart," he said in the speech,which
was broadcast on both radio and television. He added that itwas
un-Islamic to enter the private spaces of individuals.
In a stunning acknowledgment that some of the demonstrators hadturned
against him, he added, "Even if things make you angry and theycondemn
me, even if they set fire to my picture, remain silent. Take noaction until
the day that the country needs it!"
Men and women in the crowd moaned and wept loudly.
In his speech he said, "The greatest dream and honor for me isthat I give
my life in this honorable, glorious magnificent path" -- astatement the
security forces and the vigilantes may have interpreted as amessage that
they should risk their lives instead.
Khamenei also blamed "enemies," including the United States, forthe
attack on the dormitory. Over and over, the crowd chanted "Deathto America."
But at the university, there was no crying for the ayatollah. Whena
speaker tried to read the text of Khamenei's speech, the crowdbooed.
"Commander-in-chief resign!" and "Down with the dictator," theychanted.
There were posters of President Khatami but none of Ayatollah
Khamenei, whose photographs and portraits dominate publicbuildings,
shops and landscapes throughout Iran along with those of hispredecessor.
Khatami called on students to exercise restraint, saying in ameeting with
education officials, "students should cooperate with thegovernment and
allow law and order to be established in society."
In another incident Monday, uniformed and plainclothes securitypolice
and anti-riot police protected by shields and helmets clashed withseveral
hundred student protesters. The police rounded up dozens ofstudents in
Valiasr Square, one of Teheran's busiest intersections, beatingsome of
them and forcing them into cages mounted on the back of pickuptrucks.
The crackdown came after a police car and two police motorcycleswere
set on fire, apparently by students, one witness said.
Stone-throwing students smashed storefront windows. Many
shopkeepers pulled down the gates of their stores both to preventlooting
and to get a closer look at the action in the streets. Policefroze traffic just
before rush hour. Helicopters kept watch overhead. Securitypolice
roamed among the thousands of people gathered in the squarearresting
suspicious-looking young people and rounding up photographersto
prevent them from taking pictures.
Throughout the day at the university, students stood up on amakeshift
dais near the law school and one after one explained their viewsand
stated their demands. Among them are the creation of a nationalday of
mourning in memory of the students who were killed, the holding ofa
public trial for the people who ordered and carried out thedormitory
attack, and the return of the bodies of those killed.
One speaker in a black shirt criticized the lack of organization."We have
to have a plan and a leader," said the man, who, like the otherspeakers,
did not identify himself. "We have to find out which of ourfriends have
been killed, and who they are."
Another speaker called for the execution of the perpetrators oflast
Thursday's dormitory attack.
A number of student organizers said they believed that the all-dayopen
microphone was a trap set by infiltrators in their midst who bothtried to
provoke the students into more radical action and ended up beingpart of
Monday night's crackdown. One speaker said that some in thecrowd
were offering razor blades to students who might want to useviolence.
"It was very strange that the students were allowed to speak sofreely,"
he said. "The whole thing is too suspicious."
TEHRAN - Iranian students faced a ban on further
pro-democracy protests Tuesday after being evicted from Tehran
university in a bloody battle with police and Islamicvigilantes.
In a bid to end Iran's worst student unrest since the aftermath ofthe
1979 revolution, baton-wielding police lobbed tear gas canistersin a
raid Monday night to clear the campus area.
Ambulances evacuated around 50 injured demonstrators, including20
women. Most suffered from beatings and tear gas inhalation.Police
apparently gave other students safe passage off the campus.
Tehran's governor issued a ban on all demonstrations Tuesday.
``No group or organization will be given a permit for a rallyor
protest march (on Tuesday) and any protest march is illegal,''the
governor's office said in a statement carried by the officialIRNA
news agency late Monday.
``The ministry of interior has ordered the police to create orderand
stability and to prevent any unlawful gatherings,'' statetelevision
said.
The campus had witnessed five days of student protests followinga
police attack last week on a rally in support of press freedom anda
subsequent raid on the nearby dormitory complex.
The crisis has shaken the Islamic republic and put pressure on
President Mohammad Khatami to accelerate his promised reforms inthe
face of consistent challenges from his powerful conservativeclerical
opponents.
In Washington, a State Department spokesman urged the Iranian
government to protect the demonstrators and to respectinternational
human rights standards, including the rights to freedom ofexpression,
association and assembly.
Ansar-e Hezbollah vigilantes, armed with stones, sticks andmeat
cleavers, helped police take control of the area around theuniversity
dormitories.
Students fled back inside the complex or took refuge in nearby
homes. Dozens were arrested.
Vigilantes on motorcycles and trucks patrolled streets nearthe
university.
``You can smell gunpowder everywhere,'' said one cameraman.''Everything
is burning and the air is white with tear gas. Police areeverywhere.''
At least one bus was burning outside the campus, windows weresmashed
in many nearby buildings, including a state bank.
Inside the campus, a Reuters correspondent said medical studentstried
to treat the injured at the campus mosque. They complained theyonly
had water and gauze.
``We were attacked by police with batons, as they tried todisperse
students,'' said one of the wounded at the mosque.
``Our brothers fled into the side streets, and from there theywere
attacked by an orchestrated action of riot squads in complete
coordination with the Ansar-e Hezbollah.''
Club-wielding police had earlier clashed with several hundredstudents
in a Tehran square and witnesses said many people wereinjured.
Khatami called for a peaceful end to the rallies.
``The bulk of the students have shown restraint and prevented(the
rallies) from turning into a difficult national question, andthey
have pushed for demands in a logical way,'' he said in a meetingwith
education officials.
``Now, students should cooperate with the government and allow lawand
order to be established in society,'' added Khatami, elected ina
reformist landslide in 1997.
Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who outranks Khatami,condemned
last week's attacks on students, but warned about ''enemies'' intheir
ranks.
He also accused the United States, The Islamic republic'sarch-foe, of
financing attempts to destabilize Iran.
Local officials charged that students shot dead a seminary studentand
injured several other people Sunday at Tabriz University in
northwestern Iran, IRNA reported. The hard-line Basij militia saidthe
dead man was one of its members.
IRNA reported sympathy demonstrations by students in severalIranian
cities Monday, including Mashhad, Yazd and Shahroud.
The students are demanding a designated national day of mourningfor
students killed and an open trial for police officers who orderedlast
week's attack.
Some also sought freedom from house arrest for Grand AyatollahHossein
Ali Montazeri, a leading clerical dissident.
DUBAI, UAE - Riot police backed by helicopters
broke up a demonstration of 1,000 people in Tehran on Monday,as
hard-liners in the Iranian government lost patience on the fifth day
of pro-democracy protests.
Police fired tear gas and shots in the air and arrestedseveral
protesters at Tehran University, witnesses said in phoneinterviews.
Demonstrators in Tehran set fire to a police vehicle andhurled
stones at policemen, while helicopters hovered overhead to directthe
police response, the official Islamic Republic News Agencysaid,
adding there were no injuries.
The crackdown followed government warnings Sunday thatunauthorized
demonstrations would no longer be tolerated. The protests,which
began Thursday, have shown the widening gulf between Iran's
reformists, who support President Mohammad Khatami, and the
hard-liners in government who oppose him.
The crux of the power struggle is over the limited powers ofthe
elected president. The country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei, is not elected, but he controls the armed forces,the
police, the judiciary, the Intelligence Ministry and themedia.
The protests swelled into the biggest seen in Tehran since the1979
Islamic revolution after police stormed a university hostel Fridayin
response to a small protest the night before over the banning ofa
liberal newspaper. The attack was apparently carried out withthe
backing of government hard-liners.
One person was killed and 20 injured in the assault.
Demonstrations have been in support of Khatami, who has strivento
increase political and social freedom since taking office in1997.
The United States urged Iran on Monday to protect peaceful
demonstrators.
State Department spokesman James Foley also said the UnitedStates
remains committed to a dialogue with Iran but that theIslamic
republic's government is not yet ready for talks.
``We are also concerned by reports that hard-line vigilantegroups
have been involved in violent attacks on students with theapparent
complicity of elements of the police force,'' Foley said.
Khatami urged the students Monday to ``respect the law ... andavoid
violence,'' Tehran radio reported.
Khamenei, a hard-liner who came under harsh condemnation by
protesters, took a conciliatory line towards the students, quotedby
IRNA as calling them ``my children.''
He condemned the hostel raid as ``a bitter and unacceptable
incident'' that ``pained his heart'' and promised those responsible
for it would be punished, IRNA reported.
``We must be tolerant and patient. Even if somebody insults me,I
forgive that insult,'' he was quoted as saying.
During the clashes in the city center, protesters beat two men ona
motorcycle thought to be plainclothes intelligence agents. Themen
escaped after throwing a tear gas canister at thedemonstrators,
witnesses said.
Separate clashes broke out in the evening at Tehran Universitywhen a
few hundred students tried to march into the city center.Police
blocked their path on the main street outside the campus,Tehran
television reported.
The protesters began lobbing stones and the police fired tear gasto
disperse them, witnesses said.
Nearby residents said they heard gunshots. Several people were
injured, witnesses said. It was not known whether the casualtieshad
been shot or were suffering from tear gas.
In a related development, the managing director of the banned
newspaper Salam urged the country's journalists not to carry out
their planned one-day strike on Tuesday, the agency said in areport
monitored in Dubai.
Mohammad Musavi Khoiniha said it was important for Iranians to
receive ``frank and transparent'' reports about the current
situation.
Students in the cities of Yazd, Khorram Abad, Isfahan, Zanjan,
Mashhad, Urumiyeh and Shahroud staged peaceful protests overthe
hostel assault on Monday, the agency said.
In the northwestern city of Tabriz, students went on therampage
Sunday, smashing shop windows and setting a vehicle on fire,
witnesses said.
The agency said a Tabriz theology student was killed Sunday by ashot
fired from an unidentified person. It was the second death inthe
disturbances.
The government fired two security chiefs responsible for the
university raid and reprimanded a third Sunday. But there has been no
word of any step against Brig. Gen. Hedayat Lotfian, thehard-line
commander of Tehran's police force, whose dismissal the studentshave
demanded.
---
Iran's students have taken to the streets to protest press
restrictions imposed by the country's conservative religious
leadership. However, while the demonstrations began as a
reflection of the struggle between moderate President Mohammad
Khatami and conservative Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, they
have taken on a life of their own. As such, both leaders have
moved to bring an end to the disruptions. Who brings the
demonstrations under control and by what means will have as much
impact on Iran's power struggle as the demonstrations themselves.
If Khatami can rein in the students, he has a powerful bargaining
chip. If he cannot, Khamenei can argue that his reforms have gone
too far and threaten the stability of the regime.
ANALYSIS
Over 10,000 student demonstrators and an unknown number of riot
police continued to clash in downtown Tehran on July 12 for the
fifth straight day, in what many analysts are calling the worst
unrest since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The demonstrations
began as small, peaceful student protests calling for press
freedom after the closure of several liberal newspapers on July
8. They later transformed into widespread riots after riot
police, sent in to breakup the demonstrations, injured dozens of
students and arrested several dozen others. Pledges to allow
press freedom and other liberal-minded reforms rallied the
student vote behind moderate president Mohammad Khatami and
helped to boost him to power in 1997. However, many of his moves
since then to institute these reforms have been blocked by the
powerful hardline conservative factions under the direction of
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei. Not this time.
In the past, the students have dispersed at the site of riot
police or Revolutionary Guards, which are both controlled by
Khamenei. However, this time the students did not flee. In fact,
the student protests grew over the anger of police brutality in
breaking up the demonstrations. Ordinary Iranians joined the
ranks of the students, and the protests have spread to Tabriz --
where one student was killed by security forces over the weekend
-- and to Yazd, Khorramabad, Hamadan and Sharud. In an attempt to
rein in the protests, President Khatami appealed to the students
to keep the demonstrations peaceful.
However, on July 11, the Supreme National Security Council,
headed by Khamenei, issued a statement against holding "illegal
rallies" and stressed that the police were "trying to avoid
clashes and restore calm." Meanwhile, policemen and Revolutionary
Guards blocked off access to central Tehran's Val-e-Asr square
and arrested at least 20 stone-throwing demonstrators and injured
another dozen when policemen moved in to disperse the crowd. The
next day, July 12, President Khatami again appealed for calm and
warned students to be wary of "provocations" from opponents of
reform. "There are those who want to create provocations and
clashes," IRNA quoted Khatami as saying. Khatami appealed to
students "not to fall into this dangerous trap," saying, "We must
be the first to oppose tensions and violence." The students have
not complied with Khatami's requests, and have reportedly
included him as a target of their demonstrations.
Shocked by the students' defiance, Khamenei has moderated his
stance and condemned last week's use of force by the police
against protestors as "unacceptable." However, his speech,
broadcast over loudspeakers at Tehran University, was met with
boos from the crowd. Khamenei stressed that those responsible
would be dealt with even if they are "in the garb of law
enforcement forces." Indeed the two police officers who were
deemed responsible for calling in the initial July 8 raid on the
students were arrested. The Supreme Leader's remarks, quoted by
the official IRNA news agency, are his first public reaction to
the pro-democracy protests, and follow allegations by the
students that he was complicit in the police action.
The student demonstrations began as part of the ongoing struggle
between Iran's moderates and conservatives -- launched in support
of the reforms backed by Khatami and the moderates, and against
the press restrictions imposed by Khamenei's conservatives.
Predictably, Khamenei used the tools at his disposal -- the
police -- to counter Khatami's student allies. But the situation
now appears to be getting out of hand. Both Khatami and Khamenei
are now reportedly the targets of the demonstrators' slogans --
slogans borrowed from 1979, but with a new twist. Whereas in 1979
their parents chanted: "Independence, Freedom, Islamic Republic,"
now, the demand of today's protestors is no longer an "Islamic"
but an "Iranian Republic."
Regardless of their differences, Khatami and Khamenei are both
veterans of the Iranian Revolution, and recognize that there is a
point at which protest takes on a life and momentum of its own.
These demonstrations may not be near that point, but they are
nearer than either side in Tehran's power struggle is comfortable
with. Not even Khatami wants to see another revolution, and so
both he and Khamenei are working to deescalate this situation.
It is now clear that Khatami has a very powerful but very
dangerous weapon at his disposal. Provided the student
demonstrators are not so dangerous a weapon as to be merely an
implement of mutually assured destruction, Khatami may be able to
move forward with reforms. However, if Khatami cannot show that
he is able to bring the students under control, Khamenei will
have the ammunition he needs to halt Khatami's reforms on the
grounds that they are too destabilizing to the regime. Who ends
the demonstrations and by what means could say as much about the
future of reform as the demonstrations themselves.
Iran on Brink as Students Protest (TheGuardian) 7/11
Students Prepare for Wider Protests(Reuters) 7/11
Pressure Mounts on Khamenei (Reuters)7/11
Police Officials Fired Over ProtestMisdeeds (Reuters) 7/11
University Staff, Students ContinueProtests (Associated Press) 7/12
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Bloody clashes erupted in Tehran yesterday for the thirdconsecutive
day between pro-democracy students and Islamic extremists,raising
fears that a long-expected national crisis is under way inIran.
At least 10,000 students crossed the line from suppressed angerto
open defiance, staging a pro-democracy sit-in at TehranUniversity, in
the heart of the Iranian capital. In the largest protest sincethe
1979 Islamic revolution, the students demanded the resignation ofthe
country's parliament and vowed not to end their struggle until
President Mohammed Khatami took complete control of thecountry.
The demonstration was the largest in three days of unrest whichbegan
on Thursday evening when hardline vigilantes attacked a muchsmaller
protest across town at the university dormitories.
About 500 students demonstrated against parliament's approval of anew
press law on Wednesday which severely restricts freedom ofexpression,
and a court order banning the leading moderate Salam newspaper,which
gives its backing to Khatami.
Conservative extremists from the Ansar-e Hizbollah broke intothe
dormitories, smashed windows, set rooms ablaze and beat studentswith
clubs on Thursday and Friday. Witnesses said at least threestudents
were killed and up to 300 were taken to hospital. Officials havemade
no comment on the reported casualties.
Similar attacks by the Ansar occurred at yesterday'sdemonstration, as
students shouted: 'Rise up, your brother has been killed.'
Female students in black chadors wept, the passion on theirfaces
speaking louder than their rhetoric. 'Commander-in-chief, take
responsibility for what has happened!' shouted one speaker,referring
to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
By mid-afternoon yesterday, the students' outbursts hadproduced
results. The president of Tehran University and Iran's Ministerof
Higher Education submitted their resignations. The move cameafter
students accused the police, who are not under Khatami's command,of
assisting the Ansar in the attack, and accused the administrationof
failing to halt police violence.
'The tragic incident of the university forces entering into theTehran
University campus and their beating up of innocent students at
midnight on Friday, which resulted in violation of the respect ofthe
university and the honour of students, is not acceptable,'said
Minister of Higher Education Mostafa Moin, in a letter toPresident
Khatami. Moin later resigned his post in protest.
Warnings of a national crisis swept the country. The moment Iranhas
feared for nearly a year has finally arrived: reformerssupporting
Khatami and hardliners opposing his policies have run out ofpatience
with the tit-for-tat national struggle between liberals and
conservatives.
The approval of the press law by the conservative-dominatedparliament
ignited the blaze. 'We had to take action because change isnot
occurring fast enough,' said Mariam, a student. 'The press lawis
anti-democratic. We are against the closing of Salam becauseit
supports Khatami and Khatami supports the people.' At Shariati
hospital, where the wounded were treated on Friday, oneinjured
student said that he was risking his life for reform. 'The presslaw
violates everything we are fighting for,' he said in a hushedvoice as
he glanced round at dozens of security agents patrolling nearby.'We
are struggling for democracy.' Then he stepped into a cornerand
revealed the bloody marks on his back from the Ansar attack.
The student demonstrations serve not only as a warning to
conservatives but to Khatami himself. The President, elected ina
landslide two years ago primarily with the support of women andthe
young, is under fire for moving too slowly on his reform agenda.The
fact that students cannot rely on the police to protect them wasa
bloody reminder of how Khatami has failed to take control ofmajor
institutions, such as the police, the Interior Ministry andthe
intelligence service.
The Ansar-e Hizbollah, a gang of bearded young men numbering afew
thousand, maintain the support of hardliners within Iran'spower
elite. They have provoked violence at many pro-reform ralliesin
recent months, but not on the scale of this weekend's clashes.The
mere sight of these men, as they race through the streets on
motorcycles, is enough to cause alarm among many students, fortheir
presence symbolises principles young people in Iranpassionately
oppose. While the Ansar advocates a strict interpretation ofIslam,
students support a more flexible application of religion intheir
lives, one that will allow the sexes to mix freely, going out ondates
and having parties.
Despite the terror instilled by the Ansar, the students'desperate
need for social and political freedom overcame their fearsthis
weekend. They are tired of waiting for Khatami.
One way out of the crisis will be for the hardline clerical courtto
withdraw its order and allow the pro-reform Salam to resume
publication.
Another will be for Khatami to answer the students' call and dealwith
their complaints directly, before the universities lead thecountry
across a frontier everyone, until now, has tried to avoid.
TEHRAN, July 11 (Reuters) - Thousands of angry Iranianstudents
prepared on Sunday to take their protest to the streets ofTehran,
turning up the heat on political and religious leaders.
``Either Islam and the law, or another revolution,'' chantedthe
students. Their demands included the execution of the policechief,
who reports to Iran's dominant clergy.
The students rallied outside their dormitory complex at Tehran
University, scene on Thursday and Friday of a melee that saw a
peaceful rally in support of press freedoms attacked byIslamic
vigilantes and police with iron bars, metal chains, clubs andtear
gas.
Students are stepping up their demands for the resignation ofsenior
officials in a crisis that has shaken the Islamic republic andput
pressure on President Mohammad Khatami to accelerate hispromised
reforms in the face of consistent challenges from Iran'spowerful
clerical establishment.
``We are not going to be satisfied until people at the topresign,''
said one student leader. ``Khatami has to do something, orresign.''
Even Iran's supreme religious leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei--
generally above any public criticism -- has come under attack bythe
students for failing to protect them.
Breaking the taboo on criticism against Khamenei would mark amajor
turning point in the pro-democracy protests.
Iran's biggest student movement, which claims 50,000 membersacross
the campuses, said the attack on students by police and vigilantesof
the Ansar-e Hezbollah group could not have occurred withouthigh-level
support.
``The leader should take responsibility for the affair. Wecannot
accept that such an attack with clubs and other weapons wascarried
out on their own initiative,'' a leader of the movement, theOffice to
Consolidate Unity, told the students.
``Ansar commits crimes, and the leader supports them,'' and``Oh,
great leader, shame on you,'' shouted some people in the crowdbefore
their colleagues silenced them.
All shops near the campus were closed as students set upbarricades
and prepared for what some feared was an inevitable interventionby
security forces.
Police have so far kept a discreet distance.
In his first comments on the unrest, Khatami condemned as ``uglyand
bitter'' the attacks on students and vowed to take``appropriate
action'' against those responsible.
The official IRNA news agency quoted Khatami from a letter he sentto
Minister of Culture and Higher Education Mostafa Moin,rejecting
Moin's resignation. Moin resigned on Saturday to protest atthe
violence against Tehran University students.
The aggressive student slogans and their leaders' comments werethe
latest signs of a new militancy emerging in Iran's studentprotests,
now in their fourth day.
Student leaders said they were prepared to carry on theirprotests
until they received public assurances from the leader that hewould
step in to crush the hardline Islamic ``pressure groups'' that
routinely attack pro-reform rallies. Sympathetic TehranUniversity
professors called a sit-in for Monday.
Students leaders issued new demands, saying they would takethe
protest to the streets later on Sunday if they were not met.
They said they wanted the lifting of a ban on the pro-Khatami
newspaper Salam, the annulment of tough new press restrictions andan
end to the vetting of election candidates by conservative clericsof
the Guardian Council.
They also wanted the execution of the police chief, heldresponsible
for the crackdown, and the handover of bodies of students theysay
were killed in the clashes.
Late on Saturday, the Supreme National Security Council, chairedby
Khatami, said it had ``decided to dismiss the official whoordered
police to enter university dormitories and that he be dealtwith
according to regulations.''
But it stopped short of meeting earlier student demands to removethe
police chief and it made no mention of persistent student reportsthat
up to five of their classmates had died at the hands of police andthe
vigilantes.
Khatami's own political faction confirmed the students' reportsof
deaths and demanded the police chief pay for the affair with hisjob.
TEHRAN, July 11 (Reuters) - Pressure mounted on Sunday onIran's
supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to step in and end fourdays
of protest rallies touched off by an attack on pro-democracystudents
by police and hardline vigilantes.
Thousands of angry students at Tehran University's maindormitory
complex called on Khamenei -- who under Iran's Islamic systemhas
final say in all matters of state -- to guarantee personallythe
arrest and prosecution of those responsible for the assault,abetted
by elements of the police, on Thursday night and early Fridaymorning.
Earlier, scattered students in the crowd chanted slogans againstthe
leader, a figure generally above public criticism of any
kind. Breaking the taboo on criticism against Khamenei would marka
major turning point in the pro-democracy protests.
Some chanted against his alleged support of Ansar-e Hezbollah,the
Islamic vigilantes who attacked the students.
``Ansar commits crimes, and the leader supports them,'' and``Oh,
great leader, shame on you,'' shouted some in the crowd beforetheir
colleagues silenced them.
There were also reports from the holy city of Qom that somesenior
clerics had come out in support of the students, closing their
seminary lectures in protest.
Iran's biggest student movement, which claims 50,000 membersacross
Iran's campuses, said the attack by police and members ofAnsar-e
Hezbollah, one of the so-called pressure groups, could nothave
occured without high-level support.
``The leader should take responsibility for the affair. Wecannot
accept that such an attack with clubs and other weapons wascarried
out on their own initiative,'' a leader of the movement, theOffice to
Consolidate Unity, told the crowd at the dormitory complex.
Scores of students were injured, some seriously, in the melee.Campus
leaders say up to five classmates were killed.
There has so far been no official confirmation of the deaths,but
President Mohammad Khatami's political faction and a leadingShi'ite
cleric have publicly condemned what they said were the deathsof
innocent students.
To date no one has identified who gave the order for police toattack
the students, but Iran's top security body late on Saturday saidit
would dismiss any official found to have done so. Students,however,
say they want nothing short of the removal of the hardlinepolice
chief, or even his execution.
Reports from Qom said Grand Ayatollah AbdolkarimMousavi-Ardebili,
former head of the judiciary, and Grand Ayatollah Yusef Sanei,a
former senior prosecutor, had suspended their lectures inprotest
against the assault on the students.
In Shi'ite tradition, senior clerics shut their classes ortake
sanctuary at holy sites in times of political unrest.
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran said Sunday it had sacked two seniorpolice
officers for ordering a bloody crackdown against pro-democracy
students which sparked widespread protests against politicaland
religious leaders.
In a statement read on state media, the Supreme NationalSecurity
Council said the sacked officers, a brigadier general and hisaide,
would also be prosecuted over raids on student dormitorieslate
Thursday.
It said Tehran's police chief was reprimanded for his handling ofthe
affair, and seven Islamic vigilantes who took part in theassaults
were arrested.
The security body said a non-commissioned officer staying atthe
dormitories with friends had been killed during the unrest. It
reported that all 200 detained students had been freed anddenied
``rumors and unofficial reports'' about further deaths.
Student groups have said several students were killed duringthe
protests over the past four days.
The protests were sparked by the banning of a leading moderatedaily
by a clerical court last week on charges including publishingsecret
state documents. The court said Sunday it would soon put theSalam
daily's director on trial.
Thousands of student demonstrators dispersed earlier, aftermarching
in streets near Tehran University. Further protests, includinga
sit-in by faculty members, were set for Monday.
Along the way, columns of students chased away three trafficpolice
cars that tried to block their march. A police minibus wassurrounded
by students but managed to escape.
``I am going to kill my brothers' murderers,'' chanted students,many
of whom wore scarves over their faces to hide theiridentities.
Some of the moderate protesters demand the execution ofnational
police chief Brigadier General Hedayat Lotfian, who reports toIranian
supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Khamenei is widely seen to be closer to hard-liners.
The cabinet of moderate President Mohammad Khatami called for calmand
order, state television reported. It urged students in a statementto
``set an example by respecting law and order.''
The call came amid a radicalization of slogans at protests.
``Either Islam and the law, or another revolution,'' themarchers
chanted, referring to Iran's 1979 revolution.
Students are stepping up demands for the resignation of senior
officials in a crisis that has shaken the Islamic republic andput
pressure on Khatami to accelerate his promised reforms in the faceof
consistent challenges from powerful conservatives in theclerical
establishment.
``We are not going to be satisfied until people at the topresign,''
said one student leader. ``Khatami has to do something orresign.''
Even Ayatollah Khamenei, usually above public reproach, wascriticized
by the students for failing to protect them.
Iran's biggest moderate student movement, which claims 50,000members,
said the attacks on students by police and vigilantes of theAnsar-e
Hezbollah group could not have been made without high-levelsupport.
``Ansar commits crimes, and the leader supports them,'' shoutedsome
demonstrators, before fellow-students urged them to be quiet.``Oh,
great leader, shame on you.''
Ayatollah Khamenei has not commented on the unrest but a body ofhis
representatives on campuses condemned the attack in astatement,
saying it ``hurt the heart of the exalted leader.''
Drivers honked their horns in support of the students, whileresidents
offered them iced water to counter sweltering heat. Studentsearlier
rallied outside the dormitories, scene of a peaceful rally forpress
freedom in which participants were attacked by the vigilantesand
police with iron bars, chains, and tear gas.
The official IRNA news agency said the university in Mashhad,Iran's
second largest city, had closed for two days in protest at the
crackdown in Tehran, while students in Isfahan held a sit-in andhung
black mourning banners at three campuses.
There were reports that students from across Iran were heading forthe
capital.
Shops near the campus were closed as students set up barricadesin
fear of impending action by security forces.
Khatami condemned the attacks as ``ugly and bitter'' and vowed totake
action against those responsible, IRNA reported. He also rejectedthe
resignation of Higher Education Minister Mostafa Moin, which camein
protest at the violence against students. The hardline head ofthe
judiciary, meanwhile, promised to prosecute fully anyone chargedwith
ordering the attacks.
Student leaders said they were prepared to carry on untilauthorities
crushed the hardline Islamic ``pressure groups'' that routinelyattack
pro-reform rallies.
They said they also wanted the lifting of a ban on the Salam
newspaper, the annulment of tough new press restrictions and anend to
the vetting of election candidates by conservative clerics ofthe
conservative-led Guardian Council.
They also want the removal of police chief Lotfian, and therelease of
bodies of students they say were killed in the melee.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) More than 5,000 people,including
2,000 Tehran University staff, staged a sit-in today, picking upthe
mantle of student unrest that has gripped the nation since aleading
reformist paper was shut down last week.
Hundreds of Iranian journalists also planned to protest
Tuesday, with a one-day strike condemning the closure of
Salam newspaper, the Neshat daily reported.
''Journalists and staff of more than 20 newspapers in the
country, ... as a sign of solidarity with their colleagues in
Salam newspaper, will lay their pens down on Tuesday and no
newspapers will appear on Wednesday,'' Neshat reported.
Thousands of students and ordinary citizens have
demonstrated across the country in the last three days in
reaction to a violent and unauthorized police raid on a Tehran
University dormitory Friday, apparently carried out with the
backing of government hard-liners.
One person was killed and at least 20 hospitalized after the
attack, which was in response to student protests against the
ban on Salam and a bill curbing press freedoms.
In his first public comment since Friday's attack, Iran's
supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who heads the
hard-liners, called the attack ''a bitter and unacceptable
incident'' that ''pained his heart,'' reported the officialIslamic
Republic News Agency, monitored in Dubai.
All offenders will be dealt with ''no matter in the garb oflaw
enforcement forces or else,'' IRNA quoted Khamenei as saying.
''In the Islamic system it is not acceptable at all to attackthe
house and shelter of a group, particularly overnight or at the
time of congregation prayers,'' he said.
The demonstrations have exposed a widening gulf between
Khamenei's hard-line faction and the allies of reformist
President Mohammad Khatami. Khatami is the hero of the
student protesters, who have been chanting slogans for
Khamenei to step down.
Khatami has expressed ''deep regret'' over the raid, callingit
an ''ugly and bitter incident.''
Iran responded to student demands Sunday by firing two
security chiefs responsible for the raid, but there has beenno
action against Brig. Gen. Hedayat Lotfian, head of thenational
police, whom the students blame for the raid.
Witnesses said about 10,000 Iranian students demonstrated
in Tehran on Sunday in the third day of protests over theassault.
In a sign the government is losing patience with the
demonstrations, authorities warned Sunday that the security
forces would prevent protests by those without permission
from the Interior Ministry, Tehran radio reported.
Iranian communities in the United States also staged protests
in Los Angeles, Houston and Dallas.