Louise Nousratpour
Monday July 9, 2007
The Morning Star
IRAN'S student activists gathered outside one of Tehran's most prestigious universities on Monday to commemorate the eighth anniversary of the pro-democracy student uprising known as the 18 Tir movement.
Student activists staged protests outside Amirkabir University of Technology to mark the 1999 uprising, which was sparked by the closure of reformist newspaper Salam.
Student group Pejvak Daneshjoo activist Zoha told how police and militiamen in plain clothes used violence to disperse the crowd almost as soon as it had gathered.
Speaking from Tehran shortly after the event, she told the Morning Star: "Around 19 students have been arrested. I witnessed at least seven being dragged away by the police."
But Zoha stressed that the students remained undaunted and that more protests had been organised for later.
In recent years, Tehran and other major cities have seen student protests against the Islamic regime's crackdown on freedom of speech and jailing of student activists.
Amirkabir University has recently been the focus of such unrest.
Last month, two protesters were very badly beaten by police and jailed at the notorious Evin prison, where most political prisoners are held.
When Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addressed students at the university last December, he was greeted with protests and saw his picture being burnt.
Students were angry at Mr Ahmadinejad's call for universities to be purged of secular and liberal ideas.
No comments:
Post a Comment