Free governments rarely succeed in putting realpolitik ahead of real politics, as German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and… Khatami learned yesterday.

Mr. Khatami's visit to Berlin was supposed to be a string of positive photo-ops. News photographers would focus in on Mr. Khatami's engagingly crooked smile and Mr. Schroeder's determinedly hopeful gleam while print reporters would reflect on the increased trade and warming relations between Europe's largest economy and the Middle East's most theocratic republic. Then democracy got in the way.

Thousands took to the streets, ultimately collecting at the city's historic Brandenburg Gate. So far, news accounts have focused on the numbers of protestors and the amount of new German investment planned for Iran. But there's more to this story than figures. The press mostly missed two telling questions: Who are the protestors? And how did Mr. Khatami react to them?

… Other demonstrators are former Iranian citizens, who are doing on the streets of Berlin what they cannot do on the streets of Tehran...

We hope that Mr. Khatami likes what he saw in Berlin. We will know that he is serious about reform when we see similar peaceful demonstrations in Tehran.
 
 

NCR: Most Organized Opposition to Tehran Regime, BBC World Service, July 12

Berlin has seen about 20 demonstrations involving thousands of dissidents from across Europe during the visit of… Khatami. Tighter border controls and rigid security measures kept many protesters from joining an effort that organizers had hoped would include as many as 25,000 people…

The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCR) - described by German Government monitors as the most engaged Iranian opposition group in the country - has spearheaded this week's protests.

The group, which calls itself as "the democratic alternative" to the current Iranian system of government… keeps military forces near the Iraq-Iran border and has launched mortar attacks against Tehran twice since March.

In Europe, it has restricted itself to the representative functions of the NCR, which organized major demonstrations in protest at Khatami's visits to Italy and France in March and October last year…

Rudiger Scheidges, Iran expert and Der Spiegel news magazine correspondent, says the NCR is "the most efficient and best organized" of the opposition groups. "The others are weak or non-existent," he said.

BERLIN - The visit to Germany by Mohammad Khatami showed he is not popular, a spokesman for the opposition National Council of Resistance of Iran insisted Wednesday.

Behzad Naziri said that despite the efforts of the German authorities to prevent Iranians living in Germany and elsewhere from attending protests, 20,000 had demonstrated against him in Berlin Monday.

"Out of some 120,000 Iranians living in Germany, there were not 10 who came to cheer for Khatami," Naziri said.

German authorities temporarily detained dozens of Iranian protestors seeking to swell their ranks. They kept numerous others from entering the country.
 

Tehran Clashes, a New Challenge to Khatami, International Herald Tribune, July 10

TEHRAN - A new challenge to… Khatami's government emerged Sunday after violent demonstrations over the weekend in central Tehran, where thousands of disgruntled members of Iran's underclass joined university students in a clash with Islamic extremists.

The spontaneous coalition Saturday night of students and ordinary Iranians demanding improved social conditions marked a turning point in the struggle to redefine the Islamic Republic.

A year ago, it was primarily students who demanded freedom and political reform as they spilled their blood on campuses and city streets throughout the country. Now, the cries for change have broadened to include mainstream society…

The explosion of anger Saturday… was directed not only at the hard-line clerical establishment but also at Mr. Khatami, who was criticized for failing to make profound changes to the system. ''The clerics live like kings, while the people are reduced to poverty,'' shouted the crowd. Other chants followed: ''Khatami, Khatami, show your power or resign,'' and ''Khatami, Khatami, this is the final notice.''

The president's weakness was on public display… It was evident that Mr. Khatami's policy of ''rule of law'' had taken a back seat to the hard-liners' policy of brute force…

Even before the melee Saturday in Tehran, sporadic demonstrations for electricity and drinking water had erupted in a number of Iranian cities, including the oil center of Abadan…

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