Weeks after authorities crushed deadly anti-government protests that have rocked Iran, students in the country again chanted slogans on Saturday in the latest display of anger against the theocracy.
Local and expatriate media reported that the gatherings at universities came after a massive protest movement last month that was met with a government crackdown that left thousands dead.
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New anti-regime protests shake Iran
Footage showed clashes between large crowds at Tehran’s Grand Engineering University in a crowded area, with people reportedly heard chanting “honorable” or “disgraceful” in Persian.
Footage shared by Iran International, which operates from outside the country, showed a large crowd chanting anti-government slogans at Sharif University of Technology in Tehran.
The newspaper reported that the protests were met with force as paramilitary units linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were sent to suppress the demonstrators. Fars News Agency later reported that there were casualties as a result of clashes at the university.
One video allegedly showed rows of protesters at Sharif University denouncing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as a “murderous leader” and urging Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s deposed Shah, to become the new king, Reuters reported.
Demonstrations were also reported at Beheshti and Amirkabir Universities in Tehran and at Mashhad University in the northeast, according to videos posted by the human rights group HAALVSH.
In the western town of Abdanan, known as a protest hotspot, demonstrators chanted “Death to Khamenei” and “Death to the dictator” after an activist teacher was arrested, according to the rights group Hengaw and social media posts.
Iran protests and tensions with the United States
The unrest began in December due to prolonged economic pressures, but evolved into mass anti-government protests that were suppressed in a violent crackdown by security forces.
The religious leadership says more than 3,000 people were killed, but claims the violence resulted from “terrorist acts” led by Iran’s enemies.
However, the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) has documented more than 7,000 deaths in the crackdown, most of them protesters, although the real number may be much higher.
Iranian officials initially accepted the legitimacy of the protesters’ economic concerns, but as the demonstrations turned openly against the government, they accused their rivals, the United States and Israel, of fueling the “riots.”
The campaign prompted US President Donald Trump to threaten military action, although his focus later shifted to the Iranian nuclear program, which Western governments fear is aimed at producing a nuclear bomb.
The United States and Iran recently resumed talks mediated by Oman on a possible agreement, but Washington has also increased its military presence in the region, sending two aircraft carriers, fighter jets and weapons to back up its warnings.
With input from agencies
