In Tehran, Students Defy Ban on Protests

          
          In Tebran, Studeils De ' Ban on Protests - WSJ.com http://onliztwsj .com 1 arficle/SB 12541737938 1247419.htm1?n cI—fbx_aus.
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          THE WALL gI'RECF JOURNAl .
          J.coen
          MIDDLE EPST NEWS I SEPTEMBER 29, 2009
          In Tebran, Students Defy Ban on Protests
          ByFARNAZ FASSIHI
          Thousands of students defied threats by security officials and demonstrated against Iran's government at Tehran
          University on Monday, the first day of the academic year, signaling the opening of a new front in the opposition's battle
          against the government.
          With pressure increasing both at home and abroad, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government, concerned about
          the university's influence and reach, has been systematically cracking down on students.
          Security officials have called in hundreds of students across Iran for interrogation in the past month and warned them
          they would be banned from higher education if they brought the opposition movement of Mir Hossein Mousavi and
          Mehdi Karroubi to school.
          The annual ceremony at Tehran University for the start of the academic year is typically attended by the president, the
          higher-education minister and lawmakers. But President Ahmadinejad canceled his appearance Monday, and the
          higher-education minister, Kamran Daneshjoo, was hustled quietly into the auditorium from a back door to avoid
          encountering the angry crowd.
          When Hadad Adel, a conservative lawmaker and professor, entered the campus, students booed him and shouted,
          “You are against the people, traitor.”
          Students carrying green balloons - - the color of the opposition - - and wearing green T-shirts, chanted “Death to the
          dictator” and “You killed our youth -- death to you,” as they marched across the campus. The commotion caught the
          attention of passersby outside the gated campus located on Revolution Street. By noon, hundreds of people had
          gathered outside the gates, chanting with the students as others in cars honked their horns.
          Riot police and security forces swarmed the area. They locked the gates of the university and prevented students from
          leaving and the public from entering. Though the police didn't enter the university, clashes were reported as they tried
          to disperse the crowd outside. Police smashed the cellphones of anyone who tried to take pictures or film the
          demonstrations, a witness said.
          Iranian Web sites reported that some students were arrested on leaving the campus in the afternoon.
          Students supporting the government staged counterdemonstrations, but their numbers were smaller, witnesses said.
          They got into a verbal shouting match, screaming at opposition students, “Mousavi and Israel are one.” Students
          supporting the opposition screamed back, “Ahmadinejad is president - - it will be like this every day.”
          “The campus unrest today proved that difficult days are ahead for Mr. Ahmadinejad. The government has been
          extremely worried about this development,” said Roozbeh Mir Ebrahimi, an Iranian journalist and dissident.
          With 6o% of its 75 million people under age 30, Iran has a young population. Yet hundreds of students have been
          arrested and banned from completing their studies or receiving their diplomas in recent years. As a result, the student
          movement has grown more radical. University campuses have historically been a pillar of force in political upheavals
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          In Tebran, Studeils De ' Ban on Protests - WSJ.com http://onliztwsj .com 1 arficle/SB 12541737938 1247419htm1?n cI—fbx_aus
          in Iran. The 1979 revolution was rooted in Tehran University's campus.
          In another development, Mr. Karroubi, the outspoken reformist cleric and presidential candidate, wrote a bold letter to
          former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani on Monday demanding he review the actions of Iran 's supreme leader,
          Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Mr. Rafsanjani heads the Expediency Council, a committee of clerics, who have the power to
          name and remove the supreme leader.
          Write to Farnaz Fassihi at farnaz.fassihi@wsj.com
          Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A6
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