Some 20,000 students took to the streets of Tehran again yesterday, in the most serious disturbances to erupt in Iran since Ayatollah Khomeini took power.
The demonstrations began last Wednesday when students protested against the closure of a liberal newspaper, Salam (Peace). They escalated when peaceful protesters were attacked by fundamentalists of the Ansar-e Hizbollah (Brotherhood of the Party of God) and by policemen who invaded the dormitories of Tehran University.
Three students were reported killed, a score wounded and 1,000 detained. The warfare in the streets over Salam is reminiscent of the violence which led to the downfall of the Shah in 1979.
The reformist President, Mr Muhammad Khatami, attempted to defuse tension by pledging to curb the Ansar and ordering the prosecution of the police chief. On Saturday the students responded by calling upon the Supreme Guide, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the hard-liner who commands the security forces, to hand over this function to the president.
In spite of his expression of regret for the violence, the students issued an unprecedented call yesterday to Ayatollah Khamenei to resign his post as successor to Imam Khomeini. They also demanded the cancellation of legislation limiting the freedom of the press and an end to clearance of candidates for elective office by theologians. Students will hold demonstrations throughout the country today demanding the release of fellow students, while Tehran University faculty members plan to stage a sit-in to protest at the invasion of the campus by the police. The clash was coming since Mr Khatami assumed office nearly two years ago. He tried to implement a wide-ranging reform programme designed to promote social liberalisation and create a democratic civil society.
But his reforms have been obstructed by reactionary clerics who control the levers of power. The clerics have also tried to undermine the liberals by organising violence against Mr Khatami's supporters. In recent months the reactionaries have become increasingly desperate because they, too, have begun to believe the rhetoric of the reformers that the liberalisation of the Islamic Revolution is a "natural" development.
Reformers argue that Mr Khatami is not simply a reformer who attracted the support of 20 million voters in May 1997, but a figure swept into power by a mass constituency comprising young people born after the revolution who form a majority in the population. The young people want an end to corruption, an efficient administration, jobs and freedom.
According to Dr Alireza Alavi Tabar, an Iranian social commentator who attended a recent conference in Nicosia, youth who support democracy, modernism and secularism are double the number of those who favour autocracy, tradition and the rule of clerics. And younger and middle-aged clerics rising within the Shia establishment also want reform.
"If the president fails to deliver what youth wants, another liberal champion will be found," said Dr Ghassem Sholeh Sadi of Tehran University.
While change may be slowed and stymied "reform will prevail", he insisted, although the country could experience periods of anarchy along the way.
The next stage in the progression from clerical dictatorship to Islamic democracy will be the parliamentary election next year, which is expected to be won by the president's candidates. Once he has control of parliament, currently dominated by the conservatives, Mr Khatami will be in a much stronger position to enact political, economic and social reforms, and to wrest control of the police and armed forces, judiciary and bureaucracy from the old guard.
AFP adds:
A senior Tehran police commander, Gen. Mohammad Ahmadi, and one of his assistants have been arrested for ordering the deadly assault on students, security chiefs announced yesterday.
But there was no word on the fate of Gen. Hedayat Lotfian, the hardline police chief whom student protesters demanded be sacked by 5 p.m. (1230 GMT) yesterday, following the bloodshed at Tehran University on Friday.