photos of Iran students protest

Iranian students call president “dictator” during scuffle

Mon Oct 8, 2007 8:33am EDT

 

By Edmund Blair

TEHRAN (Reuters) – More than 100 students scuffled with police and hardline supporters of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday on Tehran University campus and chanted “Death to the dictator” outside a hall where the Iranian president spoke.

“Revolutionary president, we support you,” the hardline students shouted back, pushing and shoving those who were voicing opposition to Ahmadinejad, a Reuters witness said.

Liberal-minded students and academics have criticized the president for clamping down on dissent on Iranian campuses, although the president and his government insist they support free speech and welcome constructive opposition.

Monday’s protest was the second rowdy reception Ahmadinejad has received at a university in less than a year. In December, students tried to disrupt his speech on another campus by hurling firecrackers, chanting and burning his picture.

“Students should feel responsible in the international arena … Today’s world needs them,” state television quoted the president as telling university officials and students in the hall. The television made no mention of disturbances outside.

One of the pro-reform students said those allowed inside to listen were handpicked because they supported the president. “We were not invited,” said the student, asking not to be named.

Students and activists say some of those who have spoken out against the president and his government in the past two years have been detained or blacklisted from university courses.

Students on Monday shouted: “Detained students should be released”. Ahmadinejad’s supporters responded: “Hypocrites, leave the university” and waved religious banners. 

The president, who polarizes opinions in Iran by berating the West and with his populist agenda, had delayed his speech from last week because he felt unwell, officials had said.

More than 100 students, who tried to leave the campus to protest, briefly scuffled with campus police who stopped them.

“Fascist president, the university is not a place for you,” students chanted as they marched towards the campus gates.

Other rival students, including members of the Basij religious militia, wrestled and punched each other.

GAUGING SUPPORT

Before leaving the campus, some professors gave Ahmadinejad a carpet to thank him for his speech at New York’s Columbia University last month. The U.S. university’s head introduced his guest as a “cruel dictator”. Ahmadinejad said this was rude.

Ahmadinejad swept to office in 2005 vowing to share out Iran’s oil wealth fairly and a return to revolutionary ideals. Critics say his policies have stoked inflation and his fiery speeches have provoked Western nations to impose sanctions.

In the late 1990s, students formed a bastion of support for the social and political reforms promoted by then president, Mohammad Khatami. In 1999, a student protest against a liberal newspaper closure was routed by baton-wielding thugs. Many students became disillusioned as reforms failed to materialize.

Gauging popular support for Ahmadinejad is difficult in the absence of reliable opinion polls. Anecdotal evidence suggests he has many backers in the provinces, particularly poorer areas that have benefited from state largesse. But grumbling in the cities has become vocal.

Ahmadinejad’s backers were trounced in local council polls in December, particularly in big urban centers like Tehran. His supporters face a new test in the March parliamentary election.

“I did not vote for him but I was not against him (in the 2005 presidential vote). If I was doubtful last time, I am completely sure this time that I will not vote for him,” said a 22-year-old Tehran University student, asking not to be named.

Iran is embroiled in a nuclear row with the West, which accuses the Islamic Republic of seeking atomic bombs. Tehran denies the charge and has rejected demands to stop the work. As a result of its refusal, U.N. sanctions have been imposed.

Yahya Saffarian, a student who has been suspended from his studies, told an Iranian rights group meeting this month that the government was seeking to remove opponents from campuses.

“If education is a right, we will not give it up … and if it is a privilege, it seems a specific group is only entitled to that,” he said.

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Iran students protest against Ahmadinejad

TEHRAN (AFP) — Iranian students staged a noisy protest against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the country’s top university in Tehran on Monday, likening him to the late Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet.

Riot police barred the group of about 100 chanting students from leaving the Tehran University campus, where Ahmadinejad was giving a speech marking the start of the new academic year, a witness told AFP.

“Ahmadinejad is Pinochet! Iran will not become Chile,” the students shouted, the witness said.

The demonstrators at Tehran University, Iran’s top academic institution, were calling for the release of students detained since May for publishing writings considered insulting to Islam, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.

The demonstrating students were also confronted by a rival group of supporters of the hardline president who shouted “Shame on you hypocrites! Leave the university!”

Last December, Iranian students disrupted a speech by Ahmadinejad at Tehran’s Amir Kabir university, setting fire to his picture and shouting “death to the dictator.”

Ahmadinejad, an ultra-conservative who won a shock election victory in 2005 on a wave of popular support, responded then by describing those students as an “oppressive” minority.

In recent months, Ahmadinejad has also faced mounting criticism of his government’s economic policies.

Monday’s protest came just two weeks after Ahmadinejad addressed New York’s prestigious Columbia University during a highly controversial visit to the United States for the UN General Assembly.

“Why only Columbia? We have questions too,” read banners brandished by the students at Tehran University.

Ahmadinejad was treated to a humiliating and public dressing down at Columbia, where he was described as a “petty and cruel dictator” by the university president even before he spoke.

He used his appearance to reject his label of a Holocaust denier, to insist the Islamic republic had the right to pursue a civilian nuclear energy programme and to deny Tehran was seeking nuclear weapons.

Just three days ago, Ahmadinejad launched a new tirade against Israel to mark Quds (Jerusalem) Day, vowing to work to abolish the Jewish state and questioning the scale of the Holocaust.

Tensions are running high with the West over Iran’s atomic programme, with major powers expected to decide in November whether to impose further sanctions on the Islamic republic.

A top official from the UN atomic watchdog is due in Tehran on Monday for a new round of talks on the nuclear standoff, following an August agreement reached for Iran to provide answers to outstanding questions.

Tehran has been slapped with two sets of UN sanctions for refusing to freeze uranium enrichment, a process which creates nuclear fuel but can also make the core of an atomic bomb.

International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana are both due to report to the UN Security Council next month on Iran’s willingness to give up enrichment in exchange for political and trade incentives.

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