Iran arrests 98 policemen for student hostel raid
TEHRAN, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Iranian security forces have arrested 98
policemen for their role in a brutal raid on a student dormitory which
led to riots in the capital last month, Iran's police chief said in remarks
published on Wednesday.
Local newspapers said General Hedayat Lotfian made his remarks on Tuesday
to a closed-door session of parliament, where he had been summoned to provide
an explanation for the July 8-9 attack to suppress a pro-democracy student
demonstration.
The raid sparked a series of protest rallies and two days of riots throughout
Tehran in mid-July, the worst social unrest in Iran since the aftermath
of the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Iran's Supreme National Security Council, headed by President Mohammad
Khatami, said at the time that several police commanders involved in the
attack had been arrested.
But student leaders have been demanding the resignation of the hardline
police chief in their meetings with security officials in the past weeks.
Newspapers said Lotfian had told the assembly he would resign if a parliamentary
probe found him guilty. The parliament decided to conduct an investigation
into the affair on Tuesday.
But the general defended the right of his force to enter the dormitory
last month: ``The students had provoked our personnel with insulting slogans.
So they got angry and attacked the dormitory.''
Links
