Sporadic protests rock Iran
Protester Ali Moini was reportedly killed late on Friday night in Shiraz, 550 miles south of Tehran, the daily Nasim-e-Saba reported yesterday.
His death came after vigilantes who pledge loyalty to Iran's supreme ruler Ayatollah Ali Khamenei attacked a demonstration held in support of the Tehran protests, the paper said. Security forces reportedly arrested 80 people.
Nightly clashes in Tehran began last Tuesday and peaked on Friday, when hundreds of vigilantes attempted to put down protests to Khamenei's hardline regime by attacking crowds of onlookers with knives and batons and storming two university dormitories, injuring more than 50 sleeping students.
The clashes were first sparked by students protesting plans to privatise universities and snowballed into broader displays of opposition to Iran's clerical establishment.
A resident of Gohardasht, a town west of Tehran, said that protests broke out late on Saturday, but were stopped by around 200 anti-riot police several hours later.
The resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said about 500 people, mainly teenagers, gathered in central Gohardasht chanting "freedom, freedom" and "death to the dictator," an apparent reference to Khamenei.
Any criticism of Khamenei is usually punished by imprisonment, and public calls for his death were unheard of until this week. The Gohardasht protests sparked clashes that saw 100 hardline vigilantes attack protesters, the resident said.
The protests followed a call by a Gohardasht resident to a Los Angeles-based channel the night before calling for protests against the establishment.
About three dozen people mostly teenage girls were arrested, he said.
