Protesters condemn Holocaust conference

From the Scotsman:

"A conference of the world's most prominent Holocaust deniers opened in Iran yesterday amid international condemnation and protests by dozens of Iranian students, who burned pictures of president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and chanted "death to the dictator".

Never has the hardline leader, who was giving a speech at a university in Tehran yesterday, faced such open hostility at home.

One student said the crowd was protesting against the "shameful" Holocaust conference - which was organised after Mr Ahmadinejad described the murder of six million Jews by Nazis a "myth" invented to justify the occupation of Palestinian land - and the "fact that many activists with student movements have not been allowed to attend university".

The conference "has brought to our country Nazis and racists from around the world", the activist added."

Both embarrassing and slightly more difficult to handle than usual for the regime that likes to hang children because Ahmadinejad has used the fact that Holocaust denial is illegal in some European countries to present Iran as a champion of free speech. He seems to be discovering that the pesky thing about free speech is that people don't always say what you would like them to say.