Heavy Security Puts Iran Protesters On Back Foot

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, June 16, 2003

Heavy Security Puts Iran Protesters On Back Foot

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Hardline Islamic militants, some carrying assault rifles, patrolled streets early on Monday near a Tehran University dormitory that has been the focal point of six nights of pro-democracy protests lauded by Washington.

Three gunshots rang out at one point but the cause of the shooting was unclear and witnesses said the atmosphere was much calmer than on previous nights when hardline vigilantes wielding clubs, chains and knives had attacked the demonstrators.

By 2.30 am streets around the campus were virtually empty of cars and pedestrians as the heavy security clampdown appeared to be paying off for the authorities.

The protests, which have included unprecedented insults hurled at Iran's clerical leaders, have been welcomed by Washington as a cry for freedom.

"This is the beginning of people expressing themselves toward a free Iran which I think is positive," President Bush said on Sunday during a weekend break at Kennebunkport on the US Atlantic coast.

Iran has accused US officials of orchestrating the protests from afar and exaggerating their importance.

But while the protests in Tehran appeared to be fizzling out or entering a lull, state media reported smaller demonstrations in at least three other cities in which one person was killed.

Protesters have vented most of their anger on conservative clerics who control the key elements of power in Iran.

But they have also lambasted the reformist government of moderate President Mohammad Khatami, accusing him of failing to deliver change after six years in office.

The protests come as Iran faces mounting hostility from Washington, which accuses it of seeking nuclear weapons and supporting terrorism.

US officials will be watching as the International Atomic Energy Agency discusses a report this week which calls for further inspections of Iran's nuclear program. Iran says its atomic ambitions are limited to electricity generation.

US WOULD WELCOME CHANGE

In the past 18 months US-led forces have toppled the rulers of Iran's two largest neighbors Iraq and Afghanistan. US officials say they would welcome a change of government in Tehran though they stop short of embracing a policy of "regime change."

A police spokesman said that some 60 people, including 32 policemen, were injured in Tehran and five banks, 22 cars and 34 motorbikes were damaged in four nights of unrest, the official IRNA news agency reported on Sunday.

But Tehran Governor's office said 80 students were injured on Saturday at one university dormitory when vigilantes burst into the campus and beat students in their beds.

In an apparent effort to defuse the protests, police have arrested several ringleaders of the pro-clergy vigilantes who terrorized protesters in Tehran two nights ago, smashing car windshields and beating people with bars and chains.

Police chief Brig. Gen. Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf told IRNA 109 "hooligans" were arrested. No students were detained, he said.

Residents near the dormitory, where the protests began last week, said they heard three gunshots early on Monday.

"As soon as I heard the shots I rushed out of my house to see what was happening. But I couldn't see anything," said one 19-year-old man, who refused to give his name.

Dozens of hardline militants, recognizable by their beards, untucked shirts and trademark clubs and chains, walked between lines of cars, searching some and threatening drivers who dared to honk their horns in a sign of support for the protests.

But the menacing presence of the vigilantes prevented people from gathering to chant slogans against Iran's clerical leaders as occurred on the first few nights of demonstrations.

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