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Four injured as students clash in Tehran university rally
TEHRAN, March 2 (AFP) - Four people were injured in clashes between leftwing university students and Islamic fundamentalists in front of Tehran University on Monday, witnesses said.
The clashes erupted during a rally by around 3,000 students to protest the rejection of several leftwing candidates for the legislative by-elections on March 13.
Police, heavily present on the scene, arrested about a dozen people.
The demonstrators, who support President Mohammad Khatami, carried portraits of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, his predecessor Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and the president.
"Khatami we support you ... You need to be given more authority," the students cried, and referring to the fundamentalists, they shouted: "Down with American Islam ... Down with the Taliban brand of Islam," in allusion to the hardline Afghan faction.
The Council of the Guardians, a conservative legislative watch-dog, has reportedly rejected several leftwing supporters of khatami in the runup to the by-elections, prompting criticism from left-leaning circles.
Hopefuls are tightly screened by the council to ensure they meet the ideological and moral requirements. Among those whose candidature has been turned down is former minister of heavy industries Behzad Nabavi, who has denounced the conservative "monopoly" on power, demanding greater authority be extended to the president.
The demonstrators accused the council of trying to block the parliament to "revolutionary candidates," and vowed to continue protests if the authorities failed to reverse their decision.
The conservative "monopolists want to appoint people to the parliament, not have them freely elected," they charged.
The students, members or sympathisers of Islamic associations in Tehran universities, had been authorized by the interior ministry to hold the rally.
The list of eligible candidates is to be published Tuesday.
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