Students stage protest against Ahmadinejad

About 100 students staged a rare protest today against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, calling him a “dictator” as he gave a speech at Tehran University.

The protest prompted scuffles between the demonstrators and hard-line university students loyal to Ahmadinejad, who ignored chants of “death to dictator” and continued his speech on the merits of science and pitfalls of Western-style democracy.

The hard-line students chanted back “thank you president” as police looked on from the outside the university’s gates.

No physical altercations took place, and the protesters dispersed after the car carrying Ahmadinejad left the campus.

Students were once the main power base of Iran’s reform movement but have faced intense pressure in recent years from Ahmadinejad’s hard-line government, making anti-government protests rare.

The president faced a similar outburst during a speech in December when students at Amir Kabir Technical University called him a dictator and set fire to his picture.

Hoping to avoid a similar disturbance today, organisers imposed tight security measures, checking the identity papers of all students entering the university and allowing only selected students into the hall. But the protesters were somehow able to gain entrance.