About 250 Iranian university students staged a sit-in in front of the U.N. office here in protest of "the U.S.-British invasion against the oppressed Afghan nation," the official IRNA news agency reported Thursday.
The protesting students, mostly from Tehran's Imam Sadeq University, started the sit-in Wednesday night. Protesters waved banners that read: "The blood of the Americans is no different from the blood of the Afghans," "The Taliban are the creation of the United States," and "American hands are stained with the blood of Zionist crimes."
A representative of the students announced that they were determined to continued the protest for 24 hours. "We strongly condemn the massacring of the innocent Moslem civilians in Afghanistan on the phony pretext of fighting against terrorism," he said.
Police sealed off the street where the UN office is located. A police commander said the protesting students staged this "quiet sit-in strike" without getting prior permission from the Interior Ministry, thus the strike is "illegal."
The United States and Britain launched military strike on Taliban targets in Afghanistan late Sunday in retaliation for the September 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. Washington has accused the Taliban of harboring Saudi-born Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect of the terror attacks.
Iran condemned the September 11 terror attacks, but is strongly opposed to U.S. military strikes against Afghanistan.
( Xinhua News Agency 10/11/2001)
