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Iranian security forces have clashed violently with opposition supporters in central Tehran, witnesses say. Police used batons and tear gas, according to the witnesses. There were also unconfirmed reports of security forces using live rounds. State media confirmed there had been clashes, though a foreign media ban means details cannot be verified. The violence came on the day that Iran holds an annual commemoration for the killing of three students in 1953. Borzou Daragahi of the Los Angeles Times is monitoring events from Beirut, Lebanon.
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MARCO WERMAN: I’m Marco Werman. This is The World.
[PROTESTORS SHOUTING]
This is one of the protests Iranians staged today against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his disputed reelection in June. Dozens of people were arrested in Tehran and security forces reportedly fired live ammunition in the vicinity of the demonstrators there. Iranian authorities restricted internet access and they closed down mobile phone networks in Tehran. But one activist there still managed to send footage to the BBC.
[PROTESTORS CHANTING/WHISTLING]
Borzou Daragahi of the Los Angeles Times is monitoring events from Beirut. Borzou what is the latest you’ve heard on the protests?
BORZOU DARAGAHI: Well the students that protested today, they took part in protests all over the country, many cities that we could get confirmed via videotape. The protests began early in the morning with these sort of grudge matches between the security forces, some of them camped out on the university campuses and the students who were determined to stage rallies. The response by the security forces was harsh and brutal but definitely not deadly. There was obviously an attempt to use non-lethal force to suppress these demonstrations. There was a lot of stuff happening on the campuses. Less on the streets. But then again this was National Student’s Day, a day when traditionally students make their presence felt in Iran’s political scene.
WERMAN: Right and apparently the day began [INDISCERNIBLE] that way as annual student day but then got co-opted by the students. Why are they so angry? What do they think they can change at this point?
DARAGAHI: Well I think the reasons for their anger are pretty clear. They feel that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is not the president of Iran, that his election was rigged, and that they tried to use the levers of the Islamic Republic to make appeasable change and they were thwarted and so now they are upping their demands and in some cases, and this is one of the kind of interesting developments that we’re seeing, their slogans are becoming more radical and perhaps in the future their techniques will become more radical as well.
WERMAN: Today’s demonstrations and the interaction with the authorities does seem to mark another peak in the repression there. Where does the government go next? I mean it does seem like they’re playing wackamo with demonstrations, breaking things up as they happen, arresting protestors. Is there any sign of dialogue?
DARAGAHI: Well I think there are calls from within the ranks of conservatives for dialogue between the two camps, between the opposition and the government camps. But some people in the opposition see these calls as a method of dividing and conquering the opposition to try to marginalize some in the opposition by proposing a deal to those more moderate elements in the opposition in order to more easily weaken it. I’m not sure if it’s going to work. There’s very little room for dialogue in this game. You’ve got a government that has basically said that the opposition is a dupe of foreign powers and you have an opposition that says that the government is an illegitimate coup d’etat government that needs to be replaced.
WERMAN: Borzou is anybody in Iran talking about the viability of the Ahmadinejad regime?
DARAGAHI: You know there doesn’t seem to be on the horizon any big, huge governmental change possible like in the immediate future. You know the Ahmadinejad government, the system of government in Iran, the Islamic Republic, does not appear to be in any immediate peril. But there is something that should be worrying to the elites of the Islamic Republic is that no matter what they try, no matter what threats they issue, no matter what dire consequences they try to inflict on those who go out in the streets, the continue to protest, they continue to organize. You know today was rather remarkable you know despite weeks of warnings and a huge presence of security forces the protest movement managed to stage coordinated demonstrations on numerous campuses across the country in many corners of the country from the East to the West, from the North to the South, from the big cities to the little cities. And we don’t even know what is going on in those smaller cities and towns each of which have a university. This was a show of strength on the part of the demonstrators on the protest movement despite the heavy measures that were taken by the security forces. So there’s no question about the viability of the Islamic Republic. It doesn’t seem to be in immediate peril. But there also seems to be no question about the viability of this particular protest movement. It also does not seem to be in peril.
WERMAN: Borzou Daragahi of the Los Angeles Times in Beirut. We appreciate it Borzou. Thank you.
DARAGAHI: It’s been a pleasure.
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