Iranien Women protest Against Islamic Law
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Yesterdays demonstration was the nearest thing to an anti-Khamenei rally yet.
The imposition of Islamic law here has started with an order to women to cover their heads in goverment offices.
Many are furious. Only a minority in Teheran already follow the instruction.
But the issue has provided an escape-valve for many of the men here who for days have been spoiling for trouble.
Led by a few Islamic zelids, several hundred men eventually attacked the protesters.
Several of the women who stood their ground with considerable courage were stabbed as they chanted slogans for equal rights.
Most of these men can be relied upon to have a gun at home and if they can't persuade the women and other sectors who oppose extremist Islamic beliefs
then the danger is that they will bring their weapons out onto the streets
and that there will be bloodshed again.
Moments later, guns actually did appear.
Order was eventually restored by a mullah who expressed no sympathy for the womens position.
Ayatolla Khamenei is determined to see an Islamic state at all costs,
Resistance to it is already growing.
With no impartial policing the split in the revolution is already open
and threatens to become wider and more dangerous.
John Snow, ITN, Teheran.