Fresh Opposition Protests, Clashes Persist In Iran
(RFE/RL) -- Reports from Iran say protesters have
clashed with supporters of the regime on university campuses for a second
straight day. RFE/RL's Radio Farda reports that the protests started at a Tehran
engineering school, where members of the hard-line Basij militia attacked
students with tear gas.
Protesters and Iranian students face off against riot police in Tehran on
December 8.
According to the student website "Khabarnameh
Amir Kabir," militia members were transported to the university on buses.
New clashes were also reported between students and militia at Shahid Behshti
University, just outside the Iranian capital.
A number of photos and video footage of protests said to be from the capital and
other sites across Iran on December 8 have been posted on the Internet. One
carried the sound of protesters chanting: "Death to the regime that lies to
people! Dictator! Dictator! This is our last warning! The Green Movement is
ready to rise up!"
WATCH: Youtube video purporting to show a student protest at Kerman University
in south-central Iran on December 8. The authenticity of the video could not be
confirmed.
State news agency IRNA reported fresh violence involving supporters of
opposition leader Mir Hossein Musavi at Tehran University. It described "rioters
wearing green wristbands" gathering in the early morning at the university's
engineering college to protest the previous day's crackdown by authorities.
Regime critics have adopted Musavi's campaign green to symbolize their movement
and
a refusal to concede defeat in the June presidential
election over what they regard as gross irregularities.
IRNA said supporters of Musavi, who was President Mahmud Ahmadinejad's leading
challenger in that vote, threw stones at authorities.
AP quoted opposition websites saying that masked motorcyclists who were "likely
hard-line militiamen" laid siege to Musavi's Tehran office, preventing his exit
before aides whisked him back inside.
Musavi's wife, Zahna Rahnavard, was attacked by hard-line students with pepper
spray on December 7, pro-Musavi websites claimed.
Many Detained
Morteza Hosseinyari, a student and member of the student organization Tahkin
Vahdat, told Radio Farda how his fellow student, Majid Tavakkoli, was arrested
by authorities after he addressed a crowd of protesters at the engineering
school.
"Unfortunately we are not aware of the number of ordinary people who have been
arrested by the regime, but Mr. Tavakkoli was arrested upon making a speech at
Tehran Polytechnic by a member of the security forces," Hosseinyari said.
As the new protests erupted, the fallout from the previous day's clashes became
clearer.
Opponents took advantage of the traditional Students Day holiday on December 7
to protest Ahmadinejad's disputed June reelection and vent their anger at the
country's leadership.
Protests were organized at universities across the country, and many
demonstrators were met with tear gas and arrest.
Tehran police chief Azizollah Rajabzadeh said 204 demonstrators -- 165 men and
39 women -- were arrested in December 7 protests for "disrupting public order."
News agencies later quoted city prosecutor Abbas Jafari Doulatabadi saying that
86 were released "after they expressed remorse."
Foreign journalists have been ordered by Iranian authorities to remain in their
offices from December 7-9, making it difficult for the international community
to monitor events in the country.
Internet connections have slowed and mobile-phone networks have experienced
problems since December 6, echoing similar communications difficulties during
the massive street protests and
official crackdown that followed the June vote, including
mass trials.
'No Tolerance'
As the second day of clashes gathered steam, the country's chief prosecutor
warned Tehran's local authorities that he expected opposition leaders to face
the full force of the law if they encouraged further protests.
The IRNA news agency quoted Gholam Hossein Mohsen Ejeie as saying that "from
today on, there will be no tolerance."
Tehran Governor Morteza Tamaddon blamed Musavi directly for the two days of
unrest.
Musavi, a former prime minister and
would-be reformer who has insisted he finished ahead of
Ahmadinejad in the presidential vote but was a victim of massive fraud, had
issued an
Internet statement on December 6 saying the reform movement
could not be crushed by any official clampdown.
International reaction has been critical of the government's crackdown on
protesters. France strongly condemned what it called the "unacceptable" violence
by Iranian authorities, as did EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels, who
were preparing to issue a full statement of their position.
Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said the "violent suppression of peaceful
demonstrations" had led EU members to "significantly strengthen the language"
used in their draft statement.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay called on Iran to respect the
right to protest, saying it is a "fundamental freedom."
In Washington, White House officials have also expressed concern.
State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said on December 7 that the United States
is "disturbed any time we see people who are trying to exercise their peaceful
democratic rights being prevented from doing so by means of cutting off their
access to information, cutting off their ability to communicate their views, and
by arbitrary arrest and detention."
Written by Prague Central Newsroom, with reporting from Radio Farda
correspondents in Prague and Washington
Copyright (c) 2009 RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org