Hardliners attack pro-democracy campus rally
TEHRAN, May 24 (Reuters) - Iranian Moslem militiamen severely beat up
pro-democracy students in an attack on a rally at Tehran University on
Wednesday, witnesses said.
The hardline militia, dressed in black and wearing the trademark Palestinian
headscarf, grabbed and kicked around one student at a time as they charged
the crowd.
They detained a dozen students and handed them over to plainclothes
agents. Security forces, heavily present outside the campus, largely refrained
from intervening.
The crowd had gathered for a speech by student leader Heshmatollah
Tabarzadi, an Islamic militant turned pro-democracy activist. University
authorities had not authorised the rally.
Tabarzadi failed to show up, leaving his supporters to chant slogans
for greater freedom and the release of political prisoners.
Security forces then blocked the main campus gate to prevent the crowd
from leaving the campus and to avoid further clashes.
But many of the students broke through the locked gate, joining with
off-campus sympathisers in slogans against the Islamic hardliners.
On Monday, some 2,000 pro-democracy students rallied at the university
to mark the third anniversary of reformist President Mohammad Khatami's
election and call for deeper changes.
They used the occasion to vent their anger against hardline conservatives
who have campaigned to reverse Khatami's liberal reforms.
The conservative-dominated judiciary has arrested several liberal activists
and closed 18 pro-reform publications, accusing them of trying to undermine
the clerical system by promoting secular values.
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