The Hindu

Sunday, Jun 15, 2003

Gunfire heard as vigilantes attack Iranian protesters

TEHERAN JUNE 14. Automatic gunfire was heard in the Iranian capital early
today as hundreds of Iranian pro-clergy militiamen, some armed with
Kalashnikov rifles, attacked groups of people protesting against clerical
rule.

In the most serious violence since pro-democracy demonstrations started four
days ago, witnesses also reported seeing riot police and hardline vigilantes
pulling young women out of cars and beating them with sticks.

The Reuters journalist, Jon Hemming, said more than 100 of the Islamic
militiamen, who wear no uniforms, swooped on a group of a few dozen
youngsters protesting around a bonfire in a side street not far from the
Teheran University dormitory, which has been the focal point of
demonstrations.

``They piled out of pick-up trucks and off motorbikes. Most were armed with
sticks and chains but a few had Kalashnikovs,'' he said. ``I heard automatic
gunfire but I couldn't see where it was coming from or what it was aimed
at.''

The youths had been throwing stones and chanting slogans including ``Death
to Khamenei'', a reference to Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei,
who has blamed Iran's arch-foe the United States for stirring up unrest in
the country.

Washington, which labels Iran a member of an ``axis of evil'' along with
North Korea and Saddam Hussein's Iraq, and accuses it of building nuclear
weapons and sponsoring terrorism, has welcomed the protests which have drawn
up to 3,000 people on previous nights.

In a tense atmosphere in central Teheran, Islamic militiamen, mostly
belonging to the hardline Ansar-e Hizbollah group, manned checkpoints and
looked carefully into vehicles, which were circling the streets around the
university campus.

``They pulled some people out of their cars and beat them with their fists
and sticks. Even young girls were beaten,'' a photographer at the scene
said.

``I've seen at least 10 injured people. One man had a knife wound,'' he
added.
Ayatollah Khamenei, who has the last word on all matters of state in Iran,
had called on Thursday on vigilante groups such as Ansar and the Basij
volunteer force linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guards ``not to enter the
scene''.

The influential former President, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, on Friday struck
a conciliatory tone during a Friday prayers sermon, saying police had been
ordered not to take ``brutal action'' against protesters.

``It's all right for some young people to be angry and they have to say some
things and we shouldn't be very sensitive about that,'' he said.

While venting most of their anger at unelected clerics who wield ultimate
power in Iran, the protesters have also lambasted the moderate President,
Mohammad Khatami, who they accuse of failing to deliver promised reforms
after six years in power.
Analysts say the protests, while small, reflect widespread frustration among
Iran's mainly young population and are likely to continue in the run-up to
the July 9 anniversary of violent student protests in 1999. — Reuters


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