Students in Tehran lash out at AhmadinejadBy Ramin Mostaghim, Special to The Times
8:04 AM PDT, October 8, 2007
(An Iranian student tries to kick open a gate as riot police stand on the other side on the campus of Tehran University, where students staged a noisy protest against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad)
TEHRAN -- Dozens of students opposed to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's human rights record confronted the leader and his supporters today at the country's most prestigious university.
The students, defying a broad government crackdown on dissent, accused Ahmadinejad of corruption and discrimination and chanted "
death to the dictator."The president came to the campus to inaugurate the academic year, just two weeks after his controversial visit to Columbia University in New York. He was flanked by the head of the university and the minister of science. Black-shirted Basiji militia members shouted in support of Ahmadinejad. "Our president, thank you, thank you," they said.
Ahmadinejad, reviled in the West for denying the Holocaust and calling for the destruction of Israel, cuts a divisive figure at home. His government has tolerated little dissent, arresting students, purging free-thinking professors and cracking down on young men and women wearing Western-style clothing.
"You, Mr. Ahmadinejad, claimed at Columbia University that there is freedom of speech in Iran's universities," one student said over a megaphone. "Then why are three students still in jail?"Pro-Ahmadinejad students called the protesters sellouts beholden to the United States. "Death to the hypocrites," they shouted.
Scholars awarded Ahmadinejad a citation for defending Iran in his New York visit.
About 50 students from each side participated in the demonstrations. Others came to complain about the university's lack of facilities, including a shortage of dormitory space and poor Internet connections.
"I am here out of curiosity," said Ali, a graduate student in sociology who asked not to publish his last name. "I hate politics. I think in Iran you cannot live up to your own potential, and there are no good prospects for jobs. I am applying for further education in Europe or the U.S., where I can go and live in a way that I think is right."
