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Iran president in NY campus clash | |
(about 2 hours later) | |
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has clashed with the head of New York's Columbia University while making his controversial appearance at the campus. | |
Columbia President Lee Bollinger described Mr Ahmadinejad as a "cruel dictator" who denied the Holocaust. | |
In response, Mr Ahmadinejad called the remarks "an insult", adding that more research was needed on the Holocaust. | |
He again defended Tehran's right to have "a peaceful nuclear energy" and said there were no homosexuals in Iran. | |
Speaking to US media earlier, Mr Ahmadinejad said that Iran is not heading for war with the US. | |
Washington accuses Iran of seeking to build a nuclear bomb and arming insurgents in Iraq - Tehran rejects the charges. | |
Mr Ahmadinejad has been denied a visit to the site of the 11 September attacks in New York in 2001, with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice saying that "it would have been a travesty". | |
"This is somebody who is the president of a country that is probably the greatest sponsor - state sponsor - of terrorism," Ms Rice told CNBC television. | "This is somebody who is the president of a country that is probably the greatest sponsor - state sponsor - of terrorism," Ms Rice told CNBC television. |
'Brazen' | |
Mr Ahmadinejad was invited to Columbia University to address its students at the university's World Leaders Forum. | |
He received a hostile welcome from Mr Bollinger, who described the Iranian leader as "a petty and cruel dictator". | |
"You are either brazenly provocative or astonishingly uneducated," Mr Bollinger told Mr Ahmadinejad, referring to his denial of the Holocaust. | |
In response, Mr Ahmadinejad said that Mr Bollinger's remarks were "an insult to information and the knowledge of the audience". | |
Addressing the Holocaust issue, Mr Ahmadinejad said he simply wanted more research to be done. | |
He also said the issue was abused by Israel to justify what he said was its mistreatment of the Palestinians. | |
"Why is it that the Palestinian people are paying the price for an event they had nothing to do with?" Mr Ahmadinejad asked. | |
'Evil has landed' | 'Evil has landed' |
Many Americans had said he should not have been invited to speak. | |
The New York Daily News's front page headline on Monday read "The Evil Has Landed", while the New York Post described Mr Ahmadinejad as "Madman Iran Prez". | The New York Daily News's front page headline on Monday read "The Evil Has Landed", while the New York Post described Mr Ahmadinejad as "Madman Iran Prez". |
Dozens of protesters gathered outside the university on Sunday with placards saying: "Don't give a platform to hate," and calling the Iranian leader a "Hitler wannabe". | Dozens of protesters gathered outside the university on Sunday with placards saying: "Don't give a platform to hate," and calling the Iranian leader a "Hitler wannabe". |
Mr Ahmadinejad has called in the past for an end to the Israeli state and described the Holocaust as a "myth". | Mr Ahmadinejad has called in the past for an end to the Israeli state and described the Holocaust as a "myth". |
Mr Bollinger defended the university's invitation, saying it was a question of free speech and academic freedom. | |
Tickets to the event were snatched up within an hour of becoming available. | Tickets to the event were snatched up within an hour of becoming available. |
The Iranian leader is in New York to attend the UN General Assembly, where he is due to speak on Tuesday. |