NOT SO PEACEFUL IN IRAN AFTER ALL, it seems:

TEHRAN (Reuters) – Hundreds of Iranian hardline Islamic vigilantes, police and pro-democracy youths fought three-sided running street battles near Tehran University on Wednesday on the anniversary of 1999 student unrest.

A witness said police had fired tear gas at groups of youths near the campus and also fought fist fights with plainclothes Islamic militiamen to prevent them from engaging in further running battles with youths.

Earlier witnesses said armed Iranian Islamic vigilantes seized three student leaders as they left a news conference where they announced they had canceled protests to mark the anniversary of 1999 university unrest.

These people are “vigilantes,” of a sort, I suppose, but they’re really just government thugs and it’s unfortunate that the news stories don’t make this clearer. Here’s what the students say:

Three student activists have been seized in Tehran. The three were seized shortly after they held a news conference to announce the cancellation of protests marking the anniversary of student clashes with security forces.

Members of a pro-reform student umbrella group say the three activists were taken away by men dressed in plainclothes as they left the news conference. One of the witnesses is quoted as saying, “We cannot call it arrest, it was a kidnapping.”

Indeed.