Iran Focus
The protest began after an election rally on campus by Qalibafs campaign team.
The paramilitary police sealed off North Amir-Abad Street with minibuses to prevent the protest from spilling to other parts of the capital.
Demonstrators held up traffic from Sarbaze Gomnam Boulevard to Aale Ahmad Square, shouting slogans against the clerical rulers and called on the public to boycott the upcoming elections.
Students gathered in the crowded Laleh Park and chanted, Guns, Tanks, Qalibaf are no longer effective. The slogan has been popular in anti-government demonstrations for years, but the students this time replaced the word Bassijis (Islamic vigilantes) with Qalibaf, in a clear reference to his reputation as an iron-fist paramilitary police commander until last month.
Other students gathered in Vali-Asr Street, chanting similar slogans against the former police chief-turned-reformist.
There was a heavy security presence to prevent people from joining the protesters. Security forces were dispatched on motorcycles from Revolution Square.