Iran universities emerge as new battleground for anti-government protests
The Iranian government allowed universities to reopen for in-person classes for only five days after weeks of nationwide protests that were violently suppressed. On Thursday, one university after the other announced that classes would again move online.
During the short week that students were back on campus, clashes broke out between protesting students and members of Basij forces at several universities.
Azad University, which has branches in most cities across Iran, along with Kurdistan, Zanjan, Science and Culture, Kharazmi and Khajeh Nasir al-Din Tusi universities, said in-person classes would be suspended until the end of the current Iranian year on 21 March, after which universities will close for the two-week Nowruz holiday.
At Al-Zahra University, students tore down a flag adopted after the 1979 revolution and chanted “Death to Khamenei, Curse on Khomeini,” referring to the current and first leaders of the Islamic Republic.
In Tehran, clashes also took place between students and paramilitary Basij forces at Sharif, Khajeh Nasir, and Elmo Sanat universities in the capital. Some students were later suspended. The confrontations began when students held gatherings to mark the 40th day since the recent deaths of protesters.
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A 21-year-old student at Tehran University, one of the main centres of the protests, told Middle East Eye that students are angry and grieving over the large number of people killed by security forces. He said they are using university space to speak out at a time when the establishment has shut down protests elsewhere.
“We are tired and angry about all this killing,” the student said. “Like everyone who joined last month’s protests, we went to the streets, but we were met with bullets and death.
"Now that so many people have been killed, how can we stay silent and not use this small chance we have to raise our voices against the establishment?”
Iranian officials say 3,117 people were killed during the protests that erupted on 28 December across the country and lasted about three weeks. Human rights groups outside Iran say the real number is higher.
Middle East Eye has not been able to independently confirm the figures because of limited access to information inside Iran. On Wednesday, however, the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency published the names of 6,488 protesters it says were killed during the demonstrations.
Long history of university protests
The latest round of nationwide protests in Iran began after the national currency once again depreciated to a historic low. In December, the protests started in Tehran’s bazaar, a place long seen as close to the country’s religious establishment. But one of the first moves of the establishment to contain the unrest was to close the universities.
Even before 8-9 January, when the protests reached their peak, the government announced that university classes would be held online, citing cold weather. Many saw this as an attempt to bring students under tighter control and limit the country’s long history of student activism.
As the protests continued and the number of people killed rose, universities remained closed until last Saturday. When campuses reopened, student protests quickly resumed, defying government expectations.
At the University of Tehran, described as the birthplace of Iran’s student movement, students chanted “No monarchy, no [supreme] leader, [but] equality, freedom.”
The slogan “Woman, Life, Freedom” was also heard on campus again. The chant became widely known in 2022 after the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody, and later emerged as the main slogan of opponents of the Islamic Republic.
One university professor said the renewed student protests reflect the lack of space for criticism in wider society.
“In Iran, universities have historically been one of the main places for criticising the establishment,” the professor said. “When opposition parties are not allowed to operate, and key opposition figures are in prison, universities become centres of protest because of the space they offer.”
The professor also recalled the long history of student protests under the shah, which were often met with force.
In one of the deadliest cases of suppression, on 7 December 1953, three students protesting the US- and UK-backed coup in Iran were shot dead by the army inside the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Tehran.
After the fall of the shah and his Pahlavi dynasty, universities remained a stronghold for nationalist and leftist groups. On 14 June 1980, the new Islamic leadership shut them down in what became known as the Cultural Revolution.
When campuses reopened in 1983, all students and professors who opposed Islamic rulings were expelled. The authorities also set up the University Student Basij to monitor and control campus activity.
The University Student Basij played a key role in suppressing protests during the 1999 student uprising and the protest movement in 2022.
Members of the Basij, who enter universities through special quotas, were among those who confronted students in the past week, as on-campus memorial gatherings were held for those killed in the January protests.
The protests will return, sooner or later
A student at Sharif University told Middle East Eye that Basij members accosted students who had gathered to mourn.
The students were standing in silence and lighting candles when Basij members approached, chanting slogans against the government’s opponents and making noise.
'In Iran, universities have historically been one of the main places for criticising the establishment'
- University professor
The situation quickly became tense, leading to clashes.
“After suppressing the protests in such a bloody way, they seem to feel very powerful. They cannot even tolerate silent mourning,” the student said.
“We were only mourning. But if we are attacked even for that, they should expect to hear our slogans against this dictatorial regime.”
Students at other universities in Tehran described similar incidents during the first days after campuses reopened. A graduate student at Shahid Beheshti University said the pressure on students is part of a long-standing pattern.
“For years, students have been punished for speaking out. Every year, some are expelled or imprisoned for political statements, simply for saying what many people are thinking,” the student said.
By the end of the first week after universities reopened, the pressure appeared to have reduced the number of on-campus protests. Still, all the students who spoke to Middle East Eye said they believe the protests will return, sooner or later.
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