Protests Rock Iran Universities Before Nationwide Rallies Wednesday
Anti-government protests in Iran continued Tuesday with university students at the forefront of expressing anger at gender segregation and government brutality.
Anti-government protests in Iran continued Tuesday with university students at the forefront of expressing anger at gender segregation and government brutality.
Students at a university in Qom, which is the Shiite religious center in Iran disrupted a speech by the government spokesman, who had been booed and silenced on Monday at another university in Tehran. They chanted “Student Dies but does not accept humiliation!” and did not let Ali Bahadori Jahromi to speak.
Qom University students also chanted slogans against Iran’s state broadcaster when its notorious correspondent Yusef Salami was trying to report from the venue of the government spokesman's speech.
In the capital students of Tehran, Beheshti, Modarres, Khajeh Nasir, Sureh, Alzahra, Azad and Allameh universities chanted different anti-regime slogans including “Tehran has turned into detention center, Evin [prison] has turned into slaughterhouse” and “Death to Dictator!”
Students in Tehran's Allameh University chanted Tuesday as they gathered around a symbol of nearly 30 children killed in the past few weeks of the uprising against the Islamic Republic.
Videos show a group of students gathered for a protest near Emam Hussein Square in central Tehran, joined by other citizens who were chanting slogans.
Iranian students in Yazd, Shar-e Kord, Babol, Karaj, and several other cities also chanted radical slogans like “Death to this Leadership”, referring to Iran’s ruler Ali Khamenei, and “Don't call me seditionist! You oppressors are the seditionists.”
The civil disobedience movement of men and women eating together at canteens in defiance of the gender segregation rules also gained momentum on Tuesday. Most universities closed their cafeterias to prevent mixed-gender dining and students had lunch sitting on the ground outside.
Meanwhile, several women’s rights activists called on the people to gather at the main squares of different cities on Wednesday to commemorate the 40th day after the death of Mahsa Amini. Shia Muslims hold a commemoration ceremony on the seventh and fortieth day after the death of a person.
This has a big cultural significance in Iran and protests are expected to be large on Wednesday.
Earlier, the anonymous activist group calling itself ‘Youths of Tehran's Neighborhoods’ published a notice urging all Iranians to gather in their cities and towns around universities and markets around noon. The group has been the main engine driving nationwide protests each Saturday and Wednesday during October.
However, government’s official news agency IRNA claimed that the family of Mahsa Amini has announced they are not going to hold the 40th day ceremony, to prevent “any unfortunate incidents”, but people on social media say this is a disinformation to stop protests.
In the meantime, industrial and business strikes spread further on Tuesday. Iranian human rights activist Atena Daemi said in a tweet that “The Free Union of Iranian Workers has announced that the employees of Tabriz Tractor Factory have stopped working and joined the nationwide strikes.”
Another user has said that restaurants and cafeterias in the northern city of Rasht have gone on strike and will be closed on Wednesday as a sign of respect on the 40th day ceremony of Mahsa Amini.
A journalist also announced that the workers of Phase 2 of Abadan Refinery will start a new round of strike on Wednesday.
The workers of Bandar Abbas, Mahshahr, Assaluyeh, and Kangan refineries in the south are reportedly on strike as well.
Workers at South Pars Gas Complex, Fars Ghadir Neyriz Steel Company, Haft Tappeh Sugar Cane Factory, Mahshahr Tube Factory, Bushehr Petrochemical Complex, Kian Tire Factory, Borujerd Textile Factory, Isfahan’s SNOWA company, Khuzestan National Steel Group, Aidin Chocolate Factory in Tabriz, as well as truck drivers continue their strikes.
People from various groups and strata of the Iranian society have announced calls for gatherings in numerous cities to mark the 40th day of Mahsa Amini’s death, which carries immense significance in the Iranian culture.
Young grassroot activists in Tehran -- calling themselves Youths of Tehran’s Neighborhood (Javanan-e Tehran) -- that have mobilized thousands of protesters in several towns and cities since the current wave of protests began, published a notice on Tuesday urging all Iranians to gather in the their neighborhoods, around the universities and markets around noon.
Young grassroot activists in Tehran -- calling themselves Youths of Tehran’s Neighborhood (Javanan-e Tehran) -- that have mobilized thousands of protesters in several towns and cities since the current wave of protests began, published a notice on Tuesday urging all Iranians to gather in the their neighborhoods, around the universities and markets around noon.
"We back every measure against the tyrannical and corrupt Islamic regime, and we keep the fire of this revolution burning” in order to garner more support through participation of people inside and outside of Iran, they said.
Holding rallies on the 40th day of people died during the Islamic Republic’s crackdown on protesters is reminiscent of a similar turn of events 44 years ago, during the revolution against monarchy that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979. Marking the 40th day for people who were killed during the revolution turned into fresh protests that fueled the movement.
The courts have indicted at least 201 detained protesters behind closed doors on October 24, Rouydad24 news website in Tehran reported. Citing the Islamic Republic's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Hossein Fazeli the chief of Alborz Province Justice Administration charged that some of those detained are the agents of the Islamic Republic's enemies, adding that others are either sympathize with the enemies or took part in the protests as an emotional reaction.
As in past cases, the regime blames foreigners for organizing the protests, denying any political responsibility for social restrictions and the prevailing economic crisis. On the contrary, it says the United States and its allies planned the uprising because the Islamic Republic was having great success in all arenas.
Fazeli said that the 201 who were indicted had encouraged others to take part in the "riots." He also accused some other protesters of taking their orders from foreign intelligence agencies, an incriminating charge that could entail death sentence for the detainees.
Meanwhile, hardliner cleric Mahmoud Nabavian, who is a member of the ultraconservative Paydari Party has said in Tehran, without providing any evidence, that BBC Persian and Iran International TVs that beam news and current affair programs into Iran via satellite are the commanders of the protests in Iran.
He also said, again without presenting any evidence, that one of the protesters in Iran carried 10 billion rials of Iranian currency ($31,000) during the demonstrations and offered cash to protesters who chanted anti-regime slogans.
Nabavian reiterated that foreigners incited the "riots" with the aim of making Iran insecure.The clerics comments contradict remarks by some Iranian politicians and political activists who have said over and over that it was the government’s misguided policies, mismanagement, imposition of unpopular social restrictions and attempts to lie about Mahsa Amini’s death that triggered the protests. Amini was killed violently in hijab police custody, which triggered the first protests on September 16.
In another development, ultraconservative lawmaker Javad Kariomi Qoddousi claimed that Iran International TV knew about last week's fire at the Evin Prison, mindless of numerous reports that said prison officials knew about the fire from a few days earlier and they had given furloughs to some regime insiders who happened to be jail on corruption or murder convictions.
At the same time, the 40th day of Mahsa Amini’s death approaches on Wednesday and nationwide protests are scheduled.
Protest gatherings are gaining momentum in various cities according to reports. The 40th day mourning is not customary in the Sunni populated province of Kurdistan where the young woman came from, however, Shiite protesters are adamant to hold their custom as a sign of respect for the victim of police brutality.
Meanwhile, protests have been taking place non-stop since mid-September in Mahsa's hometown Saqqez in the Kudish province of Kordestan. At the same time, the north-eastern city of Tabriz has been the venue of major protests consisting of smaller gatherings at numerous spots across the city.
Protests took place in several western Iranian cities and town Monday evening, including Orumiyeh (Urmia), a mixed Azari and Kurdish city. The two linguistic groups who had some tensions in the past have issued statements of mutual support to overthrow the clerical regime.