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Protests subside in Tehran, sporadic clashes in other cities
Tehran, June 15: Wild clashes between students seeking an end to Islamic rule and hard-line vigilantes subsided in Tehran today, but sporadic violence elsewhere in the country claimed the first reported fatality after almost a week of protests.
Tehran, June 15: Wild clashes between students seeking an end to Islamic rule and hard-line vigilantes subsided in Tehran today, but sporadic violence elsewhere in the country claimed the first reported fatality after almost a week of protests.
Protester Ali Moini was reportedly killed Friday night in Shiraz, 885 kms south of Tehran, reported a daily.
His death came after vigilantes - who pledge allegiance to Iran's supreme rule Ayatollah Ali Khamenei - attacked a demonstration held in support of the Tehran protests, the paper said. Security forces reportedly arrested 80 people. Nightly clashes in Tehran began Tuesday and peaked Friday, when hundreds of vigilantes attempted to put down protests to Khamenei's hard-line regime by attacking crowds of onlookers with knifes and batons and storming two university dormitories, injuring more than 50 sleeping students.
The clashes were first sparked by students protesting plans to privatise universities and snowballed into broader displays of opposition to Iran's clerical establishment. They also come as the US has stepped up pressure against the establishment over its nuclear program and alleged links to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terror network. When asked about the anti-government protests, US President George W. Bush said they were a sign of an expanding free society.
"I think freedom is a powerful incentive," Bush said outside a church near his family's compound in Kennebunkport, Maine. Bureau Report
His death came after vigilantes - who pledge allegiance to Iran's supreme rule Ayatollah Ali Khamenei - attacked a demonstration held in support of the Tehran protests, the paper said. Security forces reportedly arrested 80 people. Nightly clashes in Tehran began Tuesday and peaked Friday, when hundreds of vigilantes attempted to put down protests to Khamenei's hard-line regime by attacking crowds of onlookers with knifes and batons and storming two university dormitories, injuring more than 50 sleeping students.
The clashes were first sparked by students protesting plans to privatise universities and snowballed into broader displays of opposition to Iran's clerical establishment. They also come as the US has stepped up pressure against the establishment over its nuclear program and alleged links to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terror network. When asked about the anti-government protests, US President George W. Bush said they were a sign of an expanding free society.
"I think freedom is a powerful incentive," Bush said outside a church near his family's compound in Kennebunkport, Maine. Bureau Report