IRAN: TEHRAN: FIGHTING BREAKS OUT AT PRO-DEMOCRACY RALLY
(21 Oct 1998) Natural Sound
Fighting has marred a pro-democracy rally attended by Gholamhossein Karbaschi, the suspended mayor of Tehran.
Riot police broke up Tuesday's rally at a stadium in the Iranian capital after tensions began to rise amongst hard-line vigilantes and protesters.
The fighting began as Karbaschi urged the crows at the stadium to take part in Friday's elections for the Assembly of Experts, a body that elects the country's supreme leader.
The three-thousand people attending the rally, mostly university students, used the occasion to vent their anger at hard-liners for trying to curb freedom of speech by closing down liberal newspapers.
The youths also shouted slogans in support of President Mohammad Khatami, whose election last year has brought about the more-relaxed atmosphere in which people can hold rallies like this.
The crowd called for the conviction of Tehran's liberal and popular mayor Karbaschi to be overturned.
He had was sentenced in April to five years in jail for corruption.
Karbaschi urged the students to vote in the assembly elections, telling them that it was their duty to make their voices heard.
Many Iranians, angry that there will be few moderate candidates on the ballot, have said they will not vote.
After Karbaschi spoke to the people, tensions began to rise between the hard-line vigilantes and the more moderate members of the crowd.
A few hundred people from both sides shoved and pushed each other - and at least a half-dozen were beaten before police intervened.
After some of the more rowdy members of the crowd were evicted from the stadium, a sense of calm returned to the rally.
The rally was one in a series that moderates have been holding in the run-up to the elections.
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Fighting has marred a pro-democracy rally attended by Gholamhossein Karbaschi, the suspended mayor of Tehran.
Riot police broke up Tuesday's rally at a stadium in the Iranian capital after tensions began to rise amongst hard-line vigilantes and protesters.
The fighting began as Karbaschi urged the crows at the stadium to take part in Friday's elections for the Assembly of Experts, a body that elects the country's supreme leader.
The three-thousand people attending the rally, mostly university students, used the occasion to vent their anger at hard-liners for trying to curb freedom of speech by closing down liberal newspapers.
The youths also shouted slogans in support of President Mohammad Khatami, whose election last year has brought about the more-relaxed atmosphere in which people can hold rallies like this.
The crowd called for the conviction of Tehran's liberal and popular mayor Karbaschi to be overturned.
He had was sentenced in April to five years in jail for corruption.
Karbaschi urged the students to vote in the assembly elections, telling them that it was their duty to make their voices heard.
Many Iranians, angry that there will be few moderate candidates on the ballot, have said they will not vote.
After Karbaschi spoke to the people, tensions began to rise between the hard-line vigilantes and the more moderate members of the crowd.
A few hundred people from both sides shoved and pushed each other - and at least a half-dozen were beaten before police intervened.
After some of the more rowdy members of the crowd were evicted from the stadium, a sense of calm returned to the rally.
The rally was one in a series that moderates have been holding in the run-up to the elections.
Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter: Twitter: AP_Archive
Facebook: Facebook: APArchives
Instagram: Instagram: APNews
You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...
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