CONSTANT IRRITANT:

Beating by guards fails to stop voting, Iranian students say (Nazila Fathi, May 7, 2007, NY times)

Students at Amir Kabir University fended off club-wielding university security guards on Monday and went ahead with elections for a pro-democracy association.

Despite the successful election at Amir Kabir, it is not clear that balloting for student associations will be allowed at other universities. The associations, a powerful center of support and communication among student democracy advocates, are a constant irritant to the government, which seeks to maintain strict control over politics and cultural norms.

And fails, conspicuously.

Posted by Orrin Judd at June 5, 2007 12:00 AM