Iran students protest articles "insulting" Islam

TEHRAN, May 1 (Reuters) Hundreds of hardline religious students demonstrated and some university classes in Tehran were cancelled in a ''day of mourning'' today to protest against publications they said insulted Islam.

Iranian students held protest rallies both inside and outside Tehran's Amir Kabir University a day after four publications appeared there carrying articles and a cartoon deemed disrespectful to Islamic values, news agencies said.

Several hundred students from other universities in the capital gathered at Amir Kabir, a Reuters witness said, adding it was unclear how many were demonstrating inside.

Including supporters of the Basij religious militia, the protesters held banners reading ''We will defend Islam'' and chanted slogans during the peaceful rally.

Police stood between the demonstrators and the closed gates of one of Tehran's most prominent universities, known in the past as a hotbed of student activism.

Its name above the entrance was covered by a black cloth and the student news agency ISNA said classes were cancelled.

Iranian universities are often the scene of rivalries between conservative, religious students and pro-reform groups demanding more political rights. Both camps regularly print their own student publications.

The media reports did not give details about the content of the articles or who were behind them. ISNA listed the names of the publications but said the student groups who usually publish them denied involvement.

''In the past few days, articles were published in students publications that were disrespectful ... ,'' read a statement issued by the university's cultural office.

It said said all student publications were now banned and the offenders would be ''confronted based on the law.'' At the same university last December, dozens of students burned pictures of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and threw firecrackers in an apparent effort to disrupt his speech.

It was the first time the hardline president, elected in 2005, had faced such open hostility at a public event.

In early 2006, cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad first published in Denmark triggered a storm of protest from Muslims around the world, including Iran, when they were reprinted by other European newspapers.

REUTERS KD PM1619