Sept. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Protesters at Columbia University demonstrated against a speech by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad scheduled for this afternoon.

At least two rallies sponsored by campus groups -- one on campus, the other near Columbia's entrance on Manhattan's Upper West Side -- are scheduled for today. About 4,000 people are on the sidewalks of Broadway between 116th and 117th Street. Police declined to estimate the size of the crowd.

``I think it is disgusting that Columbia is having this Haman, this Hitler, speak here,'' said Harv Hilowitz, referring to an ancient Persian official who ordered the killing of Jews and to Adolf Hitler, who led Germany during the mass murder of Jews during World War II.

Hilowitz, a graduate of Columbia's Teacher's College who traveled two hours from Kingston, New York, to protest outside Columbia, said, while waving an Israeli flag, that freedom of speech shouldn't be afforded to ``dictators'' like Ahmadinejad.

Hundreds of students from Rutgers University in New Jersey, and New York's Brooklyn College and Queens College are taking organized buses to the demonstrations, said Jennifer Cogan, a rally organizer from an off-campus, pro-Israel organization.

Ahmadinejad, speaking shortly before his Columbia appearance, blamed the controversy on ``some pro-government members of the press'' who ``provoked'' the protests. He said the calls to prevent him from speaking conflicted with U.S. principles of free speech.

`Another Point of View'

``Why do some people not want to hear another point of view?'' he said through an interpreter to reporters in Washington via a video link. ``I'm surprised that in a place where they claim they have freedom of information they are trying to prevent people from talking.''

Ahmadinejad also denied that his country wished to dominate Iraq or other Middle Eastern states and criticized the U.S. presence there.

``We think that regional countries themselves can know how to run the affairs of the region best,'' he said. ``They don't need a guardian from outside to tell them how to do it.''

Columbia has faced sharp criticism since it announced last week that it had invited Ahmadinejad, who is in New York for the United Nations General Assembly meetings.

Columbia President Lee Bollinger, defending the university's decision to ask Ahmadinejad, who has questioned the Holocaust and called for Israel's destruction, said the Iranian leader must take questions and accept ``sharp challenges'' as a condition of speaking at the university.

`Conditions'

``We have insisted that a number of conditions be met,'' Bollinger said in a statement last week. The university chief said he would challenge Ahmadinejad on issues such as the Iranian leader's denial of the Holocaust, his vow to destroy Israel, support for terrorism and nuclear ambitions.

Not everyone was disappointed in Columbia's decision to invite the Iranian president. Students who snagged the some 500 tickets for the speech started lining up at least four hours early.

``I'm really proud of the school's decision to host him,'' said Michael Clyne, who is studying for a master's degree in international affairs at Columbia.

``The students, by and large, want the forum here. The rest of the country doesn't go to school at a university. They're perceiving this as a platform for him to simply feed us propaganda, but we're too intelligent for that,'' Clyne said.

Address the UN

Ahmadinejad, 50, is scheduled to address leaders from the UN's 192 members tomorrow.

President George W. Bush and his military commanders have accused Iran of supplying training and weaponry to rebels in neighboring Iraq who are attacking U.S. troops. The administration also accuses Iran of using its nuclear energy program as a cover for making bombs and has refused to rule out military strikes against the Islamic Republic.

Ahmadinejad, who was elected in 2005, accuses the U.S. of seeking to dominate the Middle East. Under his presidency, Iran has forged ahead with its nuclear activities in the face of two sets of UN sanctions imposed since December, saying its atomic program is to generate power.

The New York Police Department last week rejected a request by Ahmadinejad to visit the lower Manhattan site where al-Qaeda terrorists destroyed the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. The president sought to lay a wreath at Ground Zero.

Bollinger Statement

Bollinger said in his statement, posted on the university's Web site, that Columbia's annual World Leaders Forum sometimes includes ``contact with beliefs many, most or even all of us will find offensive or even odious.'' Practicing freedom of speech means ``we do not honor the dishonorable when we open the public forum to their voices.''

A cluster of Iranian-Americans demonstrated outside the university today holding Iranian flags.

``There is no freedom of speech in Iran,'' said Ahmad Mazahery, a 55-year-old, Iranian-American civil engineer who drove from Washington, D.C., to protest. ``Inviting such a person is a disgrace to this university.''

Charles Jacobs, president of the Boston-based David Project, a pro-Israel group that opposes Ahmadinejad's Columbia appearance, said, ``It might be a learning experience, but it's a much bigger opportunity for'' Ahmadinejad. ``He's going to give these students the false impression that talk, exchange of ideas, is enough to stop him,'' said Jacobs.

State lawmakers threatened to withhold funding from Columbia over this year's invitation to Ahmadinejad, saying it legitimizes him and what they called the terrorist-sponsoring dictatorship in Iran, the New York Sun reported today.

Last year, Columbia cited ``logistical'' problems as reasons for its abrupt cancellation of Ahmadinejad's planned appearance there.

To contact the reporters on this story: Janine Zacharia in New York at jzacharia@bloomberg.net; Henry Goldman in New York at hgoldman@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: September 24, 2007 14:26 EDT