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Iran militia protests against pro-reform students
Some 3,000 members of an Iranian hardline militia demonstrated on Tuesday against pro-reform students who have staged strikes and sit-ins for more than a week for freedom of speech in the Islamic Republic. The protest by the bearded men and black chador-clad women of the Basij militia at Tehran University came as police tried to lock out thousands of reformist students from another campus in the capital and prevent them from holding a rally. "We are ready, we don't have tolerance any more," said one Basij leader addressing the Tehran University meeting.You had tolerance when? Hundreds of hardliners clashed with reformist students on Monday in the first serious violence to erupt in 11 days of protests sparked by the death sentence on history lecturer Hashem Aghajari for questioning clerical rule. One student leader was rendered unconscious for 20 hours after a similar clash with hardliners in the southwestern town of Yasouj on Monday, the ISNA student news agency said. It's spreading. Khamenei warned the reformist government and parliament to make up with the hardline judiciary or face "popular intervention", comments seen as a reference to the Basij, a volunteer force answerable only to the leader. Basijis gathered at Tehran University, the scene of a large pro-reform student protest last week, echoed Khamenei's words. "If the three powers are not able to solve the problem, I will use popular force," they chanted. Force is always popular with extremists. Meanwhile, police locked some 2,000 pro-reform students out of another Tehran campus for some two hours until the weight of numbers outside obliged security forces to let them in. One deputy warned, in an apparent reference to Khamenei's words, the reformists could also summon popular forces. "We also know how to drag people on to the streets," Jasem Shadidzadeh told parliament. "Right now, we do not consider it to be to the benefit of country, but if one day it is, we will pour people on to the streets to slap their faces." With large blunt objects, I hope. Posted by: Steve 2002-11-19 |
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