Students' protests spread across Iran's universities

Universities across the country were the scene of widespread student strikes and protests last week.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, students at Lar University (in southern province of Fars) staged a sit-in and a strike. The action was in protest to the clerical regime's repressive policies at this university which has 3,500 students.

The students demanded the removal of the university's president. The strike began after a number of the regime's agents attacked the students with knives last week. Six students were wounded, five of whom are in critical condition.

Hundreds of Tehran University's archeology students left their classes and held a rally on Monday, May 17 in front of the university. They were protesting the shortage of research facilities.

Also in Tehran, students of units one and two in Islamic Open University with 6,000 students have continued their sit-in in protest to lack of accommodations and facilities and suppressive policies by the university's officials is continuing.

Last week, in Birjand (northeast Iran), nearly 1,000 students at the city's University protested shortage of facilities and pressures exerted by the university's officials.

Students of No. 1 and No. 2 dormitories chanted slogans against the authorities. The protest continued until 1:00 a.m.

Fearing continued protests, the university's officials, security and disciplinary officers went to the dormitories overnight and promised to fulfill the students' demands.

A group of students from the same university staged another protest Saturday, May 15, at the art complex, called Cowthar. The reason for the sit-in was censorship in the students' artistic programs.

Last week, students at Sistan and Baluchistan University (southeast Iran) refused to attend classes in protest to the State Security Force assaulting their cohorts.

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
May 20, 1999


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