Iran students in new clashes with police

The crowd was swelled by Tehran residents chanting: “Students, students we support you”. “Iranians die before they accept humiliation,” the angry crowd bellowed.

They also shouted “Army brothers, why kill brothers?”, a slogan often used during the 1979 Islamic Revolution that toppled the US-backed Shah.

The crowd appealed to the police not to disperse them. The police initially tried to keep a distance but then moved in with batons.

The campus witnessed five days of student protests after police last week attacked a rally in support of press freedom and then raided a nearby student dormitory.

The crisis has shaken the Islamic republic and put pressure on President Mohammad Khatami to accelerate his promised reforms in the face of consistent challenges from powerful conservative clerical opponents.

Police and Ansar-e Hezbollah vigilantes moved against the students in last night’s clashes, tightening their grip on streets near the campus and the nearby student dormitories.

Witnesses said the university campus was mostly evacuated on yesterday, including some 50 students injured in clashes. The police lobbed tear gas while students burned tyres.

Most of the injured suffered from beatings and tear gas. Police apparently gave other students safe passage off the campus.

Tehran’s governor banned all demonstrations today. “No group or organisation will be given a permit for a rally or protest march and any protest march is illegal,” the governor’s office said in a statement.

“The ministry of interior has ordered the police to create order and stability and to prevent any unlawful gatherings,” state television said.

Ansar-e Hezbollah vigilantes, armed with stones, sticks and meat cleavers, helped police take control of the area around the university dormitories yesterday. Students fled back inside the complex or took refuge in nearby homes. Dozens were arrested.

Vigilantes on motorcycles and trucks patrolled streets.

State radio and television, controlled by the conservative faction, today repeatedly aired a speech by the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khomeini, who blamed the unrest on outside “enemies,” mainly the United States.

A leading hardline newspaper denounced the students for trying to overthrow the Islamic system.

“Without a doubt, this is not a logical and lawful protest to safeguard freedom but has all the characteristics of a movement aimed at overthrowing the holy system of the Islamic republic,” leading hardline newspaper Jomhuriye Eslami said.

Conservative religious and political organisations, which were largely caught off-guard by the unrest, have begun to issue statements supporting Khomein’s stance on the crisis.

The radio repeatedly broadcast an announcement from the country’s main propaganda machine, the Islamic Propagation Organisation, calling for a massive demonstration tomorrow to counter student demands.

The dominant theological school in Qom, run by the conservative clergy, also issued a statement warning against efforts by the “enemy” to mislead the country.

In Washington yesterday, a US State Department spokesman urged the Iranian government to protect the demonstrators and to respect international human rights standards, including the rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly.

Khatami yesterday called for a peaceful end to the rallies and asked students to “cooperate with the government and allow law and order to be established in society.”

Local officials charged that students shot dead a seminary student and injured several other people on Sunday at Tabriz University in north-western Iran. The hardline Basij militia said the dead man was one of its members.

IRNA reported sympathy demonstrations by students in several Iranian cities yesterday, including Mashhad, Yazd and Shahroud.