Protests mark anniversary of student unrest in Iran

Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Jul. 10 – A large number of students from several universities in the Iranian capital staged anti-government protests on Sunday which marked the seventh anniversary of a nationwide student uprising that rattled the ruling theocracy, according to dissidents. Iran Focus

Tehran, Iran, Jul. 10 – A large number of students from several universities in the Iranian capital staged anti-government protests on Sunday which marked the seventh anniversary of a nationwide student uprising that rattled the ruling theocracy, according to dissidents.

The largest of the protests took place in the vicinity of the University of Tehran, where there was heavy police presence.

Agents of the paramilitary State Security Forces (SSF) sealed off streets next to the campus. There were several hit-and-run clashes between students and security forces which were assisted by a hard-line Islamist mob.

On 9 July, 1999, Iran was taken by storm as thousands of students from across the country poured out into the streets and took part in violent anti-government demonstrations. The unrest began following a crackdown on student dormitories in Tehran when at least one student was killed after being thrown out of the window.

In the same month, current Mayor of Tehran Brigadier General Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf and 23 other Revolutionary Guards commanders wrote a letter to former President Mohammad Khatami, urging him to “use every available means” to put down a nationwide protest movement led by pro-democracy students or “they would take matters into their own hands”.