FIESOLE, Italy - … Mohammad Khatami, aiming to end his country's isolation, challenged an audience of European scholars Wednesday night to open a "profound, thoughtful dialogue" with the Islamic world. Then he canceled a scheduled question-and-answer session and left the stage.

Khatami's abrupt exit, which embarrassed his hosts at the European University Institute, appeared to undermine the message of his three-day visit. His departure came after one demonstrator in Rome hit his car with an egg filled with yellow paint and two others gained entry to the institute here, shouting, "Death to Khatami!"…

"It was a bit embarrassing," said Yves Meny, a French political scientist who teaches at the institute. "You can't just say, 'We need dialogue,' and then leave like that."…

Several Iranians with anti-Khatami banners were arrested in Rome earlier Wednesday, a day after about 3,000 Iranian dissidents and some Italian opposition politicians held an authorized, incident-free rally there… The protesters dismiss Khatami as a facade for a regime that is oppressive, dangerous and unpopular.

"The West is wrong to think it is welcoming a new Gorbachev," said Behzad Naziri of the Iranian resistance movement... "Khatami is not there to overturn the Islamic Revolution but to prevent it from being swept away."
 
 

Protest Against Khatami's Visit, Voice of America, March 9

… The protesters waved Iranian flags and held banners reading "no Khatami" and shouted "Iran Rajavi," referring to the president of the Iranian resistance council, Massoud Rajavi.

One group of protesters was dressed in prison clothing. Others held photographs of relatives they say were tortured or killed by the Iranian government. They called for freedom and democracy in their country. One said Italy should not do business with what he called a terrorist government…

One speaker at the protest was a member of the Italian parliament, Marco Taradash, who criticized the Italian government for agreeing to the visit.
 
 

Plenty of Eggs For Khatami in Italy, Iran Zamin News Agency, March 11

Dozens of Iranians residing in Italy staged a protest as Khatami and his entourage were leaving the Vatican.

Despite restrictive measures by the Police, the protesters chanted "Down with Khatami" and threw empty beverage bottles, newspapers, books and fruit toward cars carrying Khatami and his entourage or spit at them.

As Khatami’s motorcade was passing through Rome’s Veneto street (near the hotel where Khatami stayed) at around 8:15 a.m., protesting Iranians reacted by hurling paint-filled eggs at the cars.
 
 

Pope Meets Khatami Amid Protest, Agence France Presse, March 11

VATICAN CITY - Mohammad Khatami held 25-minute talks here on Thursday with Pope John Paul II.

About 50 Iranian dissidents demonstrated near Saint Peter's Square, shouting "Khatami terrorist" as he arrived at the Vatican amid a heavy police guard.

The demonstrators were from the Iranian opposition movement National Council of Resistance.
 
 

US Wary of Khatami's Visit to Italy, Agence France Presse, March 11

ROME - … Khatami visit brought protests from Iranian dissidents who accused the West of being naive if it believed Tehran was about to end human rights abuses.

While the visit may have brought some thaw in relations between Iran and Europe, the United States expressed concern that Tehran might use it to promote its international trade.

"We believe Iran should not enjoy the benefits of normal international commercial relations until it ceases activities that violate international norms," a State Department official said in Washington.
 
 

Ambush by "Mullahs' Terrorists" Fails, Agence France Presse, March 11

BAGHDAD - Iranian-backed "terrorists" ambushed a convoy of the main armed Iranian opposition movement, the People's Mujahedeen, as it was travelling through southern Iraq, the group said Thursday.

At least one "terrorist" was killed in Wednesday's attack near Amara, some 190 miles southeast of Baghdad, the Mujahedeen said in a statement.

"The assailants left behind a number of RPG-7 rockets, an MK-47 machine gun and a number of grenades," the opposition group said.

The Mujahedeen, with a formidable propaganda machine abroad, continues to pose the most significant armed challenge to the Iranian government.

With its military bases, materiel and tens of thousands of fighters, the group is today considered the world's largest army in exile, claiming to have carried out hundreds of operations against the Iranian army.
 

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