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TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Iranian students have staged a rare demonstration against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, setting off firecrackers and burning pictures of him as he delivered a speech at Tehran university, reports said.

Iran's semi-official FARS news agency and a student news Web site reported that a group of students Monday briefly interrupted Ahmadinejad's speech at Amir Kabir University by booing and chanting "Death to the dictator."

A student who attended the speech but did not want to be named confirmed those reports to CNN.

But Iran's official state-run news agency, IRNA, said the students "expressed their views in a cordial atmosphere," and chanted "Down with dictators," which was met with agreement by Ahmadinejad, who denounced the "dictatorships" in the United States and Britain.

A spokesman for Ahmadinejad's office downplayed the incident, saying that the students burned some papers but it was not clear if they were pictures of the president, as others reported.

The spokesman confirmed some firecrackers were set off during the speech, and that students shouted "Death to the dictator" or "dictatorship" but said they could have been referring to London or Washington.