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Riot police clash with demonstrators

Clashes erupted for a second straight night in Tehran, with anti-riot police and hard-line vigilantes beating up teenage demonstrators who had taken to the streets to denounce supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Dozens of hard-line vigilantes on motorbikes chased down around 300 mostly teenage protesters Wednesday, beating them with sticks in the streets outside a Tehran University dormitory in the city's Amirabad district. Several people were seen being carried away with head injuries.

The protesters, chanting, "Death to Khamenei," threw stones at anti-riot police, who tossed them back.

In Iran, criticism of Khamenei is punished by jail. Hard-liners say Khamenei's powers are unlimited and cannot be questioned.

Around 200 students in the dormitory compound threw stones and Molotov cocktails at anti-riot police after they joined the vigilantes attacking the protesters.

The clashes followed the arrests of about 80 protesters after a small student gathering Tuesday night against privatizing universities turned into the largest demonstration against Iran's political leadership in six months.

After the protest, which lasted into the early hours Wednesday, security officials warned that further demonstrations against the political leadership would not be tolerated.

"These people have been provoked by extremists inside the country and elements outside the country to chant illegal slogans," state-run television quoted the intelligence minister, Ali Yunesi, as saying Wednesday.

He was apparently referring to satellite channels owned by Iranian opposition groups in exile which have encouraged Iranians to rise up against the ruling clerics. Although satellite dishes are officially banned, many Iranians still use them.

The protests included the strongest slogans ever chanted against the political leadership, including Khamenei.

"The clerical regime is nearing its end!" "Vigilantes commit crimes, the leader supports them," the demonstrators chanted.

In a rare twist, demonstrators also called for the resignation of Mohammad Khatami, the popularly elected reformist president, accusing him of not introducing enough reforms.
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