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| Axis of Evil |
| Iran gets tough on student protests |
| 2002-11-22 |
| Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, ordered university students on Friday to stop their protests, while hardline security forces followed up his warning by attacking several pro-reform rallies. "This action will lead nowhere," Ayatollah Khamenei said during his sermon at noon prayers held at Tehran University. He denounced two weeks of nationwide student protests in defence of an academic sentenced to death for apostasy as "the work of the enemy". That would be the U.S. ISNA, a student news agency, later reported that security forces broke up student protests in the major cities of Mashad and Shiraz, detaining more than 80 people. In Tehran witnesses said riot police also attacked reformists attending a memorial service for Dariush Forouhar, a nationalist politician who was murdered with his wife by intelligence ministry agents in 1998. Protests were mostly kept inside campuses to avoid street clashes with Islamist militia. Students said it remained to be seen how many would turn out for demonstrations planned this weekend following the supreme leaders latest warning, and signs that hardline security forces are preparing a serious crackdown. Students are also disappointed that they have received little overt support from reformists in parliament and the administration of Mohammad Khatami, the moderate president who has made little headway in his own political struggle with hardline opponents. Ok, the crackdown has begun. Now we see how much support the reformers have. |
| Posted by:Steve |