PARIS - Parisians, confronted with security patrols, closed Metro stations and screaming protesters, could be excused for thinking all of Iran's dissidents were visiting France rather than just its President Khatami.

Wherever Khatami went over the past three days, exiled Iranians massed on the streets and slipped past riot police to throw paint-filled eggs at his car, wave protest banners and chant "Khatami is a terrorist."

The protesters, so feared that armed policemen were posted in the UNESCO hall where Khatami delivered a speech Friday, came to Paris answering a rallying call by a highly organized exile group called the National Council of Resistance of Iran.

They lobbed paint-filled eggs at him when he visited the Paris Pantheon, the Senate and the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, unfurled protest banners from the Arc de Triomphe and blocked traffic along the Champs Elysees.

Mostly well-dressed and fluent in Western languages, they succeeded in disrupting the visit even though France sealed off its borders to them early in the week and turned away hordes trying to enter from Germany, Belgium or even Canada.

The NCR works out of offices in Europe and North America to spread its message of total opposition to Iran's Islamic governments since 1979.

The NCR professes support for democracy and equality, a point it takes as far as to claim it has an army of 30,000 women in headscarves in Iraq ready to fight the mullahs in Tehran.

The NCR can rally thousands of exiles to demonstrations in the West. Clearly skilled in organization and publicity, the NCR is fully legal in France and other European countries.
 

Khatami Shadowed Day And Night by Protesters, Reuters, October 29

PARIS - … Khatami, shadowed day and night by protesters linked to the Mujahideen dissident group, spent much of his three days holed up in a heavily guarded residence.

Iranian exiles, French Jewish organizations and human rights activists dogged Khatami's visit, accusing him of crushing opposition at home and supporting terrorists abroad.

France's leaders also felt the heat for hosting Khatami, with one outraged member of the Green Party accusing Paris of "prostitution."

The most spectacular protests came from the well mobilized followers of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, who rarely missed an opportunity to pelt his car with paint-filled eggs.
 

Danielle Mitterrand Condemns Crackdown On Protestors, Reuters, October 29

PARIS - Dozens of demonstrators protesting against Mohammad Khatami's visit to Paris were detained Friday as they played cat and mouse with police, witnesses said.

Danielle Mitterrand, the widow of former French president Francois Mitterrand and head of the France Libertes human rights group, said she was shocked by the heavy-handed security measures.

"We believe such actions seriously harm democracy in our country," she said in a statement.

A Reuters Television cameraman said at least 80 people were bundled into police vans after they unfurled a long "Down with Khatami" banner from the top of the towering Arc de Triomphe and blocked traffic on the Champs Elysees.

A policeman said riot police had to remove protesters, mostly Iranian exiles, one after the other as they lay down on the avenue.

Some 10 women were detained after demonstrators burnt an effigy of the Iranian president at a central Paris junction.
 

French MP: This Is Not the Way to Treat People Who Are Striving For Democracy, The Scotsman, October 28

French police detained scores of Iranian dissidents yesterday as… Khatami arrived on a rare visit to the West…

The treatment of the Iranian dissidents brought criticism in the French parliament. Yves Cochet, an ecologist member of the national assembly, said: "This is not the way to treat people who are striving for democracy."
 

In The Fog, Financial Times, October 28

The Paris weather delayed yesterday's arrival of Mohammad Khatami...

When he did touch down, Khatami was greeted with Spartan Paris streets. The Iranian dignitary would have been pleased to see the roads clear of anti-Khatami demonstrators - the French police did a typically impressive job. But Khatami would have been irked by the lack of a display of national flags to greet him…

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