Iran Protests Met with Violence

Tehran police used batons, tear gas, and live rounds in clashes with student protesters Monday, according to unconfirmed witness reports cited by BBC News. (State-controlled media acknowledged the confrontations, but details are tough to verify because of Iran’s ban on foreign media.) Opposition supporters wore green scarves and chanted “Death to the Dictator,” to which security forces responded with arrests and beatings and tried to prevent students from leaving their campuses, according to a reformist student Web site. The protests took place on the anniversary of the killing of three students in 1953; Iranian security forces had said they would block any attempts by the opposition movement to use the day for demonstrations.