Ayatollah tells vigilantes to cool it as student protests continue
Jonathan Steele

The Guardian
Friday June 13, 2003

Iran's conservative supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, appealed
to hardline vigilantes yesterday not to take the law into their own
hands after a second night of anti-regime student protests in Tehran.

The vigilantes, an offshoot of the revolutionary guards who helped
to create the clergy-run system in 1979, had arrived on motorbikes
to back up police, and taunt and attack students at the start of
protests on Tuesday.

Their actions provoked a bigger student gathering on Wednesday evening
at a university dormitory, where violence had erupted between police
and protesters four years ago. While some students in the 3,000-strong
crowd denounced the leading moderate, President Mohammed Khatami,
others chanted "Death to Khamenei".

One Reuters reporter claimed that students had seized three
plainclothes Islamic militiamen after they entered the campus during
clashes.

"They had walkie-talkies, chains, gas spray, and their pockets were
full of stones," a student said.

In a clear sign that the establishment is worried that protests could
get out of hand, the ayatollah went on television yesterday to urge
caution on the vigilantes and blame the US for stirring up trouble.

"Now America itself is openly saying it wants to create disorder
inside Iran. Their solution is to create disputes among the people
and separate the people from the system," he said. He urged "young
believers" - Islamic militiamen and vigilantes - not to be drawn in.

Several reformist papers called on students yesterday not to go
too far with their demonstrations, which began as a protest over
privatisation but has escalated into calls for political prisoners
to be freed and for a secular regime.

The newspaper Tose'eh urged them to "use their wisdom and awareness",
warning that protests only played into the hands of the anti-reform
lobby.

Debate over the pace and scope of reform has raged in the media and
parliament for several years, although there is an informal agreement
that street protests could have unforeseen consequences.

With the revolution almost a quarter of a century old, a new generation
has emerged which is less interested in the old consensus. Rising
unemployment, despite healthy oil revenues, adds to their anger.

It is hard to predict whether the demonstrations will escalate further
- large pro-reform protests took place four years ago but fizzled out,
while last autumn's support of a popular academic sentenced to death
for alleged blasphemy also faded away.

Reformist MPs working within the system are focusing on gaining
support for a referendum on reducing the powers of clerics and even
towards separating mosque and state.