Iran police bid to stop opposition protests at rally

[maddezmom]

Source: BBC

Hundreds of Iranian police have surrounded Tehran University to try to stop opposition supporters protesting at an annual rally, reports say.

Authorities had already banned foreign media from the event, which marks the killing of three students in 1953.

Iran has cracked down hard on protests by opposition supporters following a disputed election in June.

On Sunday opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi questioned whether the ban would succeed in preventing protesters.



Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/8398615.stm

---

Iran police surround university ahead of protest
Authorities bar journalists from demonstrations and shut-down Internet


updated 3:23 a.m. ET Dec. 7, 2009
TEHRAN - Thousands of riot police and Revolutionary Guard members armed with tear gas, batons and firearms were deployed Monday outside Tehran University to prevent student demonstrations backed by the opposition.

The large security operation suggested that authorities planned to make good on their promise to deal harshly with protesters marking the day in 1953 when three students were killed in an anti-U.S. protest. The occasion has in recent years been used by students to stage pro-reform demonstrations.

There was no word immediately available on whether demonstrations have begun inside the campus, but the witnesses said police were conducting ID checks on anyone entering the campus to prevent opposition activists from joining the students.

more:http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34307810/ns/world_news-mideastn_africa/

[maddezmom]

1. Students, security forces face off in Tehran

Students, security forces face off in Tehran
By Borzou Daragahi

Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

December 7, 2009 | 1:12 a.m.
E-mail Print Share Text Size

Reporting from Beirut — Downtown Tehran erupted with cries of "Death to the dictator!" this morning as students and security forces armed with teargas and clubs faced off in the latest round of confrontation over Iran's disputed presidential elections.

Hundreds of security forces in riot gear stood alongside streets, witnesses said. Students said that pro-government Basiji militiamen had been allowed to flood university campuses to prevent protests from breaking out.

But as noon approached, police could be seen beating chanting demonstrators as the number of protesters heading to the streets appeared to be increasing, witnesses said. Smoke from teargas filled the air.

National Students' Day marks a violent 1953 protest against a U.S.-backed coup d'etat that ousted the democratically elected government of Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh and restored the absolute rule of the monarch Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Since Iran's 1979 revolution, it is traditionally a time when high school and college students take to the streets and chant anti-American slogans.

more:http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fgw-iran-protest8-2009dec08,0,2404324.story