Khomeini tells police to use force if needed

February 24, 1981

Apparently alarmed over continuing political violence in Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the revolutionary leader, told the country's police to use force if necessary to keep the peace. The ayatollah addressed police officers at a Tehran mosque after a string of violent incidents that prompted gloomy warnings about the way Iran has gone two years after its Islamic Revolution. In what appeared to be a sharp rebuke to both right-wing and leftist extremists, the Iranian leader said "club-wielders" and "hooligans" using violence to break up political meetings were sapping the nation's stren gth and destroying its unity.