Fights broke out Monday between supporters of Iran's Islamic regime and university students who issued a rare public criticism of Iran's supreme leader during a rally in support of a professor sentenced to death for insulting Islam.
The students organized the demonstration at Sharif Technical University in Tehran to support reformist scholar Hashem Aghajari. Some 3,000 students chanted slogans calling for freedom of speech and accusing hard-line clerics of thwarting President Mohammad Khatami's political and social reform programs.
According to AP, when the students criticized the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and called for a referendum to determine the country's reform programs, some 700 supporters of the regime who were standing by rushed the student demonstrators and started throwing punches.
Police stood guard outside the university to keep passers-by away from the rally but did not intervene in the melee. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
