Rally Backs Iran Islamic Rule; Rioters Warned

By Ali Raiss-Tousi

TEHRAN, Iran (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Iranians marched through Tehran Wednesday in support of Islamic rule as a senior official warned that those behind six days of unrest could face execution.

``Those involved in the last days' riots, destruction of public property and attacks against the system will be tried and punished as mohareb (those fighting God) and mofsed (those spreading corruption),'' said Hassan Rowhani, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, Iran's top security body.

Rowhani, speaking to the rally protesting the unrest, was referring to charges that usually carry the death sentence under Iran's Islamic law. The disturbances involved some of the most violent scenes since the aftermath of the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Witnesses at the peaceful two-hour march said some 50 youths were loaded into police vans by plainclothes security forces.

They said a young woman being taken away was carrying a placard asking: ``For what crime were they killed?'' in reference to students reported to have been killed by security forces during an attack on a peaceful pro-democracy rally at Tehran University last week. Officials said only one person was killed.

State television quoted Interior Minister Abdolvahed Mousavi-Lari as saying security forces were ``continuing their efforts in arresting the main elements'' behind the unrest.

A leader of a council set up by Tehran University student protesters told Reuters Wednesday it was suspending protests but was awaiting a government response on ``student martyrs and the whereabouts of their bodies.''

It was not immediately clear how much influence the council had on students and sympathizers behind the unrest.

The council earlier issued a series of demands including the firing of the national police chief, a public trial for two officers fired for ordering a police attack on students last week, and the release of the bodies of dead colleagues.

At Wednesday's rally, called by the clerical establishment and backed by most moderate groups, marchers carried Iranian flags and pictures of the late revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and his successor Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The march was staged near the site of clashes between demonstrators and security forces a day earlier.

``Death to America,'' roared the crowd, incited by official statements that the United States and other ``hostile'' powers were behind the unrest.

``We will resolutely and decisively quell any attempt to rebel,'' Rowhani told the crowd.

He assured the crowd that authorities were investigating last week's attack on the student rally -- the catalyst for a week of street clashes and vandalism throughout the capital.

The television showed footage from several other Iranian cities staging similar rallies against the unrest.

Increasingly militant students, outraged at attacks against colleagues, had earlier challenged the Islamic leadership, a move that alarmed many of their fellow demonstrators.

The television carried the Tehran rally live, also playing patriotic songs and showing images of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.

``People are gathered here to defend national security and the pillars of the Islamic system. They are here to renew allegiance to the sacred ideals of Imam Khomeini and the leader,'' said a television reporter at the scene.

Khamenei and President Mohammad Khatami blamed the violence on elements far removed from the peaceful student movement.

``It has been two days now that a group of bandits, aided by certain bankrupt political grouplets, and with the support and encouragement of foreign enemies, have engaged in destroying public property throughout Tehran, creating havoc and intimidating the people,'' Khamenei said in a message Tuesday.

The Tehran University students who led the peaceful protests last week said they would not attend the rally. But they also distanced themselves from the rioting of the past two days.

Security forces and Islamic vigilantes took control of most of central Tehran late Tuesday after clashing with students and others who set fire to vehicles, banks and other buildings.

Khatami said late Tuesday the riots threatened Iran's national security and his government's reformist policies. He said that what started as a peaceful student protest had degenerated into a riot led by people with ``evil aims.''

Defense Minister Ali Shamkhami cautioned against any new disturbances, saying, ``We will enforce security at any price.''

The crisis has shaken the Islamic republic and put pressure on Khatami, elected in 1997 with wide student support, to accelerate promised reforms in the face of strong challenges from powerful conservative clerical opponents.