shaving their faces) and thrown bricks into shop windows to discredit the student demonstrators. The five days of rioting "turned Tehran into a battlefield," and was "inarguably the worst mass disturbance" the Islamic Republic had seen in its 20 years of existence. Running street battles left downtown Tehran "gutted," with burned-out buses, and smashed storefronts. There were many arrests and injuries, and at least one confirmed fatal shooting, namely that of Ezzat Ebrahim-Nejad. The death of Ebrahim-Nejad was the only one acknowledged by the state-controlled Iranian television, however, major student groups and the foreign media have claimed more than 17 dead during the week of violent protests. Another student Saeed Zeinali disappeared after his arrest by security forces. Major Iranian cities such as Tabriz, Mashhad, Shiraz and Esfahan were scenes of violent and widespread demonstrations as well. The protests continued at Tabriz University on 11 July 1999 (20th of Tir) and police and hardliners responded similarly in Tabriz universities and schools, entering the universities and brutally attacked students. Four students died in the unrest and many were beaten while in custody. According to The Economist magazine, the demonstrations "took a more violent turn on 13 July, when some of the students, deeply dissatisfied with the official response, tried to storm the Ministry of the Interior, the perceived seat of their troubles." On July 13 President Khatami issued a statement "disowning" the demonstrators, stating that continued defiance of the ban on demonstrations was "an attack on the foundations of the régime." The next day, 14 July, "Tens of thousands of supporters" of Supreme Leader Khamenei rallied in Tehran in a demonstration called by the Organization for Islamic Propagation (Keesing's July 1999). "Reports characterize the demonstration as the régime's counterattack, claiming that the demonstrators include tens of thousands government employees who have been brought to Tehran by bus." Student Uprising: July 1999, "18 Tir" The Iranian student protests of July 1999 is considered to be the first massive uprising initiated by the generation born under the Islamic Republic Regime. The protest grew out of response to the Islamic Republic's violent attack on Tehran University's student dormitory on July 9, 1999, in which numerous students were seriously injured and several killed. Over the next five days proceeding the attack, approximately 50,000 students protested in Tehran, in addition to thousands more in various universities across Iran, against both conservatives and reformists under the Islamic