A reporter covering the events for Iran Press Service said some 1.500 to 2.000 students, chanting slogans such as "political prisoners must be freed", "Ali Pinochet, Iran would not turn into Chili" or "In Tehran or in Kabol, the Taleban are the same" etc. defied a heavy barrage of the Law Enforcement and Basij volunteers forces posted at the gates of the Amir Kabir University and joined their colleagues, in continuation of their daily protest rallies directed against the ruling conservatives, but also President Mohammad Khatami and the "official reformists".

"Some 150 members of the Basiji students and thugs of the Ansar Hezbollah in plainclothes, who are affiliated to the ruling monopolists, introduced inside the university campus, heckled orators from the Office for Consolidating Unity (Iranian students largest organization), smashed sound equipments, tore down pictures of Mr. Ali Afshari (a leader of the OCU who is in jail) and clashed with students, leaving 5 to 8 wounded, including some female students", one student told IPS.

The Monday clash was the latest in a series of physical and verbal confrontation between members of the OCU and other smaller student’s groups with the regime’s security forces.

The protest movement started immediately after a young religious judge in the western city of Hamadan and acting on orders from the leader-controlled Judiciary, condemned to death Dr. Hashem Aqajari, a popular university professor and Islamist thinker on charges of apostasy.

As the authorities ignored students call for the "unconditional" release of Mr. Aqajari, an influent member of the Mojahedeen of the Islamic Revolution Organisation (MIRO), the strongest of the formations backing the powerless Mr. Khatami, the protest process stretched out to other universities across the nation and got more popular, with protesters adding more political demands, including the release of all political prisoners, resumption of the publication of the independent and reform-seeking newspapers and publications shut by the Judiciary and above all, holding a national referendum to allow Iranians to choose their regime.

To appease the protesters, Mr. Khameneh’i bowed to the students by ordering the Judiciary to "revise" the death sentence, but his decision was ignored by the students while harshly criticized by the hard line faction of the conservatives, accusing him of "leniency" towards what they consider as "enemies of the Islamic revolution".

Observers noted that for the first time, the Judiciary, which is under the direct control of the leader, refused to endorse his decision, by stating officially that the accused must apply himself for appeal and if he refuses to do so within the 20 official days from the time the verdict had been issued, the sentence would be carried out.

"The attack was very brutal, with plainclothes men and the basiji students and plainclothes men using knives, chains and clubs against anyone on their way", our correspondent in Tehran further reported, adding that the more than 30 people out of the tens who had been arrested on previous days were still held in undisclosed prisons operated by the leader’s special guards, charged with activities against the security of the state and insulting Mr. Khameneh’i and other senior officials.

Ali T’ala, a deputy to the Governor of the Capital for security and political affairs said about 200 protesters were arrested in the city on Saturday, charged with participating in an illegal gathering, carrying weapons such as knives and also some of them are accused of clashing with the police", he said, adding that most of them have been released after being questioned, 30 of them are under arrest and 40 of them were released on bail.

The opposition television channels, some of them pro-monarchy and offering Prince Reza Pahlavi, the 41 years-old son of the late Mohammad Reza Shah, who was overthrow by the 1979 Islamic revolution calling on his compatriots to change the present theocracy through "peaceful civil disobedience" methods, are illegal in Iran but are avidly watched by many Iranians via satellite dishes, which are also illegal but widely available.

As a sign of "divorce" between the President and the students, Mr. Khatami refused for the first time since he had been elected five years ago to go to Tehran University and address the students on Saturday 7 December, which is the official Iranian student National Day.

Political analysts say the ongoing protest movement, likely to increase in the coming weeks is the largest and stronger since the students uprising of July 1999, which was crushed by the Revolutionary Guards on order from Mr. Khameneh’i and the blessing of Mr. Khatami.

Meanwhile, it was reported Monday that Mr. Heshmatollah Tabarzadi, an outspoken student’s leader, had been freed from prison.

Mr. Tabarzadi, a former leader of the OCU was first imprisoned some two years ago when he publicly dared to criticise Mr. Khameneh’i and called for a referendum, now the main motto of both the students and majority of the people. ENDS STUDENTS CLAHED WITH BASIJ 91202