Khatami victory soured by vigilantes

Young people celebrate in Tehran before the police moved in

The BBC's John Simpson and two of his colleagues were held by vigilantes in Tehran on Saturday night. They were covering a celebration by President Khatami's supporters.

During an angry altercation, one of the Ansar Hezbollah militants dug his finger into John Simpson's eye, narrowly missing the pupil with his fingernail.

The team was released after the intervention of the police. Here is John Simpson's report:

For President Mohammad Khatami, winning his second presidential election with 78% of the vote, humiliating his nine opponents, and gaining more votes than he received in 1997, may well turn out to be the easy part.

This must be the only country on earth where the police stop people celebrating the success of the government

Government official

The events of Saturday evening in central Tehran, after the result of Friday's election became clear, showed how difficult a path he now has to tread.

A crowd of several hundred, mostly young, people gathered in a park close to the television station in Val-I-Asr Avenue to celebrate the victory of the man who has campaigned on moderation and on widening the degree of personal freedom in Iran.

Within a couple of hours riot police were out in force to clear them out, and tear gas was used to disperse them.

'This must be the only country on earth,' commented a leading government official, 'where the police stop people celebrating the success of the government.'

The trouble is, President Khatami has not yet succeeded in defeating the hard-line forces of the country.

John Simpson and colleagues were forcibly arrested

The police, reinforced by an often violent and shadowy force known as 'The Soldiers of the Party of God' whose members support Iran's religious leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, were determined to stop the pro-Khatami celebrations turning into an anti-conservative demonstration.

The Soldiers, who form an elite secret police, mingled with the crowds, taking names, filming them with video cameras and using strong-arm tactics against foreign journalists who had come to observe the celebration. Three camera crews, including one from the BBC, were forcibly arrested, threatened, and held for several hours.

President Khatami and his allies in government have so far shown themselves unable to control hardline elements like this, which owe their allegiance to the earlier leaders of the Islamic Revolution.

In his second four-year term, he will have to control or disband groups like the Soldiers of the Party of God if the people who voted for him in such large numbers on Friday are not to lose their faith in him.

Greater personal freedom cannot be achieved while such organizations rule the streets.