Ji-Harvard

"OHH FUCK NO NO THEY'RE GONNA SHOOT ME NO NO DON'T PUT ME IN THERE NO" is what the crazy guy in the Metallica T-shirt screamed, as at least seven or eight police officers wrestled him onto a bench outside the Charles Hotel and hauled him feet-first into a waiting Cambridge PD wagon. "AAAAAAAA FUCK!"

Behind him, a man with unwashed long hair chanted "Down with Christians, Down with Jews" repeatedly, as the photographers and cameramen swarmed. The WRKO reporter standing beside me asked if I'd seen what started it, and I gave him the same answer as everybody else: "no, although I noticed that guy earlier because he was wearing chains on his shirt." Such great insight on our part.

And that was pretty much the highlight of today's protest. Whatever President Khatami said inside the Forum -- I didn't go in, and I don't really care -- the nature of the protest outside paints a much grimmer picture for the Iranian question. Thoughts and experiences after the jump (click "read more").

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Hello, Iran!

Hello, Iran!

(According to our traffic stats, we had two hits from Tehran.)

Also, we're all over the news since Eric got into an AP story which was picked up everywhere:

"His speech is on ethics and violence. It would be very bizarre if he came here to speak on ethics and violence and did not acknowledge and discuss his own record in Iran," said Eric Lesser, 21, president of Harvard College Democrats, which teamed with their Republican peers for the protest. "Students were arrested and thrown in prison for speaking their mind in the same way we're doing right now."

Live-blogging Khatami at Harvard

I'm here, with Jill, on the ground floor of the Institute of Politics. We're supposedly 3 minutes away from Khatami's speech, which I'll be live-blogging in comments below. This is probably a good time to plug the statement that the Harvard College Democrats released. Also, this is a good time to mention that the opinions below are solely those of the author(s) and not of the Harvard Dems. And away we go....