Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE= 06/18/03

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=IRAN PROTESTS (S O)

NUMBER=2-304458

BYLINE=GREG LAMOTTE

DATELINE=CAIRO

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: For the eighth consecutive night, students in Tehran have staged demonstrations demanding more freedom. But unlike during earlier protests, the latest demonstrations have been free of violence incited by pro-government forces. VOA's Greg LaMotte has the latest from our Middle East bureau in Cairo

TEXT: This time, the protests were largely peaceful around Tehran University.

Most of the several hundred demonstrators stayed in their vehicles hoping to avoid contact with conservative hard-line vigilantes who attacked the demonstrators with clubs and chains during earlier protests.

Uniformed police guarded Tehran University, keeping the hard-liners away from the campus.

In earlier protests, students had been shouting slogans against Iran's conservative clerics and reformist President Mohammad Khatami, demanding greater freedom. But for the past two days the demonstrations have largely been conducted from vehicles, with protesters sounding their horns and creating huge traffic jams around the university.

The United States accuses Iran of supporting terrorism, trying to develop nuclear weapons and attempting to destabilize Iraq.

U-S officials have expressed support for the protests. The government in Tehran says that support amounts to blatant interference in Iran's internal affairs, and has lodged an official complaint with Washington. (Signed)

NEB/GL/AWP