Tehran, Iran ? Iran’s president Sunday ordered two Cabinet ministers to crack down on hard-line vigilantes who disrupt political meetings after an attack on one of his close aides, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

President Mohammad Khatami ordered Intelligence Minister Ali Yunesi and Interior Minister Abdolvahed Mousavi Lari to provide security and protection for participants and speakers at authorized rallies, saying he wouldn’t tolerate further attacks as the country prepares for parliamentary elections slated for Feb. 20.

“I seriously want you to, firstly, make use of all the facilities available to provide security for legal gatherings. Secondly, no effort should be spared to identify and confront those attacking authorized meetings as criminals,” IRNA quoted Khatami as saying.

Meanwhile, about 1,500 pro-reform students at Tehran University rallied Sunday inside the campus, chanting slogans against Iran’s leadership and saying the 1979 Islamic revolution failed to fulfill its promise of freedom.

The demonstrators also denounced Khatami for failing to stand up to hard-liners.

“Khatami doesn’t have the courage to fulfill his promises … unfortunately, after six years failing to enforce promised democratic reforms, Khatami has lost the confidence of the young generation,” female student leader Leila Zanjani Zanjani told the rally.

Hard-line thugs have frequently disrupted gatherings of reformists and have rarely been brought to court.

On Friday, prominent reformist lawmaker Mohsen Mirdamadi, who heads the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, was beaten by hard-line vigilantes Friday.

Mirdamadi was in Yazd to meet officials of his party, the Islamic Iran Participation Front, and to make a speech. Mirdamadi is a senior member of the party, the country’s largest reformist group.

Holding pictures of jailed student Ahmad Batebi, Iranian students chant a song during a gathering marking the annual Student Day at the Tehran University campus in Iran. Sunday, students also denounced President Mohammad Khatami for failing to stand up to hard-liners.

“On the verge of elections, (in which) all of us want a massive turnout, legal gatherings are disrupted and violence is employed to insult dignitaries. This is not tolerable,” Khatami was quoted as saying.

Students, meanwhile, gathered for the annual Student Day, which marks the 1953 deaths of three students protesting a visit from then-U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon.