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HUMAN CHAIN AROUND NUKE SITES

From correspondents in Tehran
June 17, 2004

MEMBERS of Iran's hardline Islamic Basij militia have formed a human chain around the Islamic republic's first nuclear power station, and have vowed to defend the facility to their "last drop of blood", the official news agency IRNA said today.

The agency said the protest at Bushehr - sparked by fresh pressure on Iran over its nuclear program from the UN atomic energy watchdog - took place on Tuesday and yesterday.

However, there were no photos or television images of the symbolic act of defiance by 400 student Basij, as the site is subject to tight security.

The power station, situated on the Gulf coast and being built with Russian help, is still under construction.

"The students of the Basij formed this human chain to tell the western countries ... that they will defend, to their last drop of blood the achievements of Iran in the domain of nuclear technology," a Basij official, Ali Kamal Chonbadi, was quoted as saying.

"We will continue this action until the legitimate rights of Iran are secured," he said.

IRNA said a similar protest also took place in the central city of Arak, where a heavy water reactor is being built.

Protesters reportedly chanted slogans against Britain, the United States and Israel, and also called for the breaking off of diplomatic relation with France and Germany.

Britain, France and Germany have drawn Iranian ire after proposing a draft resolution to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna that calls for the probe into Iran's suspect nuclear program to be stepped up, and chastises the clerical regime for its failure to allay suspicions it is seeking nuclear weapons under the cover of generating atomic energy.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,9868425%255E1702,00.html