Protests unabated at Iranian universities

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Universities in Iran remain in chaos as nationwide student protests have entered their eighth week.

This year’s new academic year started in the middle of widespread public anger triggered by the September 16 death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of morality police.

Young men and women, including university students, have been at the forefront of the protest movement which is accompanied by a brutal state crackdown in which more than 300 people were killed with several thousand arrested.

A violent repression at universities such as Tehran’s Sharif Industrial University, University of Tehran and Babol Noshirvani University of Technology has not silenced the angry students.

Universities students defy crackdown

In defiance of the authorities’ warnings, students announced in separate statements they would not attend classes at the beginning of the eighth week of protests.

They demanded the unconditional release of all arrested students, the prohibition of arrest warrants for the released students, the lifting of recent academic suspensions and the withdrawal of  thesecurity forces from campuses.

On November 5, students again gathered in various universities across the country, including in Tehran, Shiraz, Qazvin, Sanandaj, Karaj, Rasht and Mashhad.

Footage shows students at the Islamic Azad University of Mashhad chanting “I am a free woman, you are the pervert.”

“A student dies but doesn’t accept humiliation,” shouted students gathered at the Gilan University of Medical Sciences in the northern city of Rasht.

In the northwestern city of Qazvin, dozens were heard chanting similar slogans at the mourning ceremony for Javad Heydari, a protester killed by the security services.

Hundreds of students banned

In an illegal move by the authorities, hundreds of students have been “banned from entering” their universities. According to Iranian legislation, only university disciplinary committees have such authority.

“Long queues have been seen outside the university to identify students who are not allowed to enter. The QR code on the students’ cards is being used to identify these students,” according to Sharif Today, a media outlet that covers news at Sharif University of Technology in Tehran.

The entry ban began at Sharif University on October 22. Thirty-three students were included on the initial list, which now has more than 80 names.

At least 16 students at Babol Noshirvani University have been banned from entering the university over the past days, according to information received by IranWire.

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