Students, police clash in Iranian capital

July 12, 1999

Web posted at: 10:18 a.m. EDT (1418 GMT)

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Iranian students clashed with police and religious hard-liners Monday as protests against a violent crackdown on the students reached their fifth day.

More than a thousand students, their faces covered by masks, fought a running battle with baton-wielding Iranian security forces and the hard-line vigilantes who broke up a peaceful rally last Thursday. In Thursday's incident, dozens were injured and at least one person was killed.

The original student rally had been staged to protest the ban on a reformist newspaper that backed moderate President Mohammed Khatami.

Students set at least two police vehicles on fire when Monday's demonstration spilled into Tehran's streets. Several students were injured during the clashes or from inhaling tear gas.

The demonstration lasted for over an hour before the students were forced to retreat back to the Tehran University campus, where they split into several smaller groups and headed off in different directions.

Police were patrolling the streets, seeking to prevent any further violence, but several other clashes were reported -- including one in which religious hard-liners assaulted a group of women because they objected to how the women were dressed.

Khatami calls for restraint

Several thousand more students were staging a sit-in inside the campus on Monday, as student leaders disagreed over how to proceed. Some wanted to instill calm by remaining on campus, while others insisted that more protesters should take to the streets.

Khatami praised the restraint of those students who stayed on campus.

"You should not commit illegal acts, so in a calm situation we can make a firm decision in the interests of the system," Khatami -- overwhelmingly elected in 1997 with the backing of students and women -- told a meeting of higher education ministry officials.

Monday's violence began when a small explosion plunged the protest into chaos. Iran's official Islamic Republic News Agency said what appeared to be a firecracker went off outside the university gate. Earlier, a person on a motorcycle fired a shot as he drove past the protest at the gate.

Ayatollah Khamenei condemns raid

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, issued a statement read over Iran's official Islamic Republic News Agency that condemned last Thursday's unauthorized raid, ordered by security officials who answer to his religious hard-liners.

Khamenei said the attack was "a bitter and unacceptable incident" that "pained his heart." Those responsible, he said, would be dealt with "no matter in the garb of law enforcement forces or else."

Iran's Supreme National Security Council responded to the incident Sunday by firing two security chiefs, but the students have called for the resignation of Brig. Gen. Hedayat Lotfian, the national police chief. The Iranian government has taken no action against Lotfian, who is closely allied with the hard-liners.

Correspondent Shirzad Bozorgmehr contributed to this report.