new york --Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad faced sharp criticism Monday about his opinions on women, gays, Israel, nuclear weapons and the Holocaust in an appearance at Columbia University, where protesters lined the streets bearing signs reading, "Hitler Lives."
Inside a crowded lecture hall, the university president issued blistering introductory remarks. Ahmadinejad exhibits "all the signs of a petty and cruel dictator," declared Columbia University President Lee C. Bollinger, who questioned the Iranian leader's record on human rights and his statements that the Holocaust was a myth.
Ahmadinejad bristled at Bollinger's comments, calling the introduction "an insult to the knowledge of the audience here."
The confrontation continued during a question and answer period when the moderator, John H. Coatsworth -- Columbia's interim dean of the School of International and Public Affairs -- accused Ahmadinejad of avoiding questions about Israel and about Iran's treatment of women and gays.
The divisive Ahmadinejad, who has called for Israel to be "wiped off the map," was invited to Columbia as part of his New York trip to the United Nations this week. Today, he is scheduled to address the General Assembly about sanctions imposed against Tehran over its nuclear program. His remarks come at a time when the U.S. has accused Iran of secretly trying to develop nuclear weapons.
Controversy surrounding the visit had been rumbling for days, with some groups demanding that the United Nations and Columbia deny Iran's president a public forum.
Bollinger defended Columbia's invitation to Ahmadinejad, saying it would provide a forum for free speech and healthy debate. New York City officials, bowing to public pressure, had refused his request to visit Ground Zero. Ahmadinejad had said he wanted to pay his respects to the Sept. 11 victims and their families.
On Monday, New Yorkers awoke to the front-page headline "THE EVIL HAS LANDED," from the New York Daily News, which also called the Iranian leader a "hatemonger." A New York Post headline read: "Madman Iran Prez."
At noon, scores of people gathered across from the United Nations to protest Ahmadinejad's visit, as heavily armed police surveyed the crowd. Many schools turned the event into a field trip, busing hundreds of students to the demonstration.
"Anybody who [seeks] to destroy Israel is a threat to the U.S.," said John Ganzarski, 17, who came with 450 of his classmates from the Ramaz School, a Jewish Modern Orthodox Yeshiva school on the Upper East Side.
