[Onthebarricades] IRAN: Student protests against regime, December 2007

[Andy]

*  Students stone police during anti-Ahmadinejad protest
*  Students break campus gates in anti-regime protest, compare Ahmadinejad 
to Pinochet
*  Iranian students protest jailings of their comrades
*  Police jail students "planning protest"

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=500891&in_page_id=1811

Students stone police in Iran riot
Last updated at 20:33pm on 9th December 2007
Professors at the university have joined students in criticising President 
Ahmadinejad for clamping down on dissent
Students defied a clampdown on protests in Iran yesterday by tearing down 
the gates of Tehran university.
They chanted slogans against President Ahmadinejad and carried placards 
saying "Live free or die", "No war, no fascism" and "Women must decide their 
fate, not the state."
They wrecked the iron-barred gates and threw stones at police, according to 
Iranian state radio, which said the protest ended peacefully.
Tehran University is the largest and one of the oldest universities in Iran.
Student protests have been rare in recent years. Western rights groups have 
accused Iran of banning dissent.
But there was a demonstration in Tehran last month against the detention of 
three students who were picked up during a protest at another Iranian 
university a week earlier.
Some of the placards yesterday named the arrested students.
Professors have joined them in criticising Ahmadinejad for clamping down on 
dissent on campuses.
The president and his government say they "support free speech and welcome 
constructive opposition".

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hCunvjTz9sNfQxJNoPuNIfx1kQyg

Iran students break campus gate in protest: reports

Dec 9, 2007

TEHRAN (AFP) - Hundreds of Iranian students held a new protest at Tehran 
University on Sunday, damaging the main gate to allow outsiders into the 
campus and denouncing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's news agencies 
reported.

The protesters chanted slogans against the president and carried banners 
calling for the release of three fellow students who have been held since 
May in a high-profile case, the Fars news agency and state-run IRNA 
reported.

"The students marched on the gate and damaged it, and this allowed several 
non-students to enter the campus. The students chanted slogans and carried 
protesting placards," IRNA reported.

"Ahmadi-Pinochet, Iran will not become Chile!" chanted the protesters, 
playing on the names of the Iranian president and late Chilean dictator 
Augusto Pinochet, Fars reported.

Pictures published by the student ISNA agency showed the students crowded 
round the main gate and bending back its iron railings to allow others 
through.

A dense crowd of hundreds of people then gathered inside the university 
grounds for the protest, the pictures showed. "Live Free or Die," read one 
of the banners.

The students also burned a copy of Kayhan newspaper, the mouthpiece of the 
clerical establishment and a bitter foe of the Iranian reformist movement, 
Fars said.

According to IRNA, anti-riot police were stationed outside the campus but 
did not intervene. The demonstration had been called by the radical wing of 
the Office to Foster Unity, a reformist student group, it said.

Unusually, state television's 20:30 (1700 GMT) news bulletin broadcast brief 
footage of the protest, showing the students yelling in excitement as they 
tried to open the university gate.

There has been a string of demonstrations at Tehran universities in past 
months as students protest against the replacement of liberal professors, at 
pressure on activists by the authorities and the detention of three 
students.

The demonstration -- the second within a week at Tehran University after 
dozens of students held a similar protest on Tuesday -- appeared to be one 
of the largest held this year.

Mehdi Arabshahi, a member of the central board of the Office to Foster 
Unity, said that 1,500 people joined the latest protest, although there was 
no confirmation of this figure from Iranian media.

"They protested against the detention of the students, the oppressive 
policies of the government and advocated rights for all Iranians," he told 
AFP, saying that the participants included liberals and ethnic Kurds.

Arabshahi said the protest lasted for more than two hours after starting at 
12:00 pm (0830 GMT) and that it was peaceful.

The demonstration came a day after the intelligence ministry said it had 
arrested an unspecified number of people using "fake student cards to hold 
an illegal demonstration" at Tehran University.

The timing of those arrests was not given, but it is likely that they took 
place before Friday which was the annual students' day in Iran.

The case of the three detained students from Tehran's Amir Kabir University 
has become a major issue for the protesting students.

Held since May, the trio were given jail sentences of up to three years in 
October on charges of printing anti-Islamic images in four student 
newspapers -- accusations they vehemently deny.

Reformist leaders such as former president Mohammad Khatami have openly 
called for the three to be released, but hardliners have said the gravity of 
their crimes means they must stay behind bars.

Meanwhile, a group of Islamist students held a counter-demonstration outside 
the offices of the Iranian judiciary to protest against the Tehran 
University gathering, Fars reported.

"We are astonished that this is not prevented when they are growing bolder 
by the day," one demonstrator told the agency.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/10/world/middleeast/10iran.html?_r=1&ref=world&oref=slogin

Iranian Students Protest Jailings

By THE NEW YORK TIMES
Published: December 10, 2007
TEHRAN, Dec. 9 - Iranian students held a protest on Sunday at Tehran 
University to demand the release of fellow students who have been jailed in 
recent months.
The students chanted slogans against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and 
damaged the main gates of the university, the semi-official Fars news agency 
reported.
A witness, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, 
said that the figure of 1,500 demonstrators, which was reported by student 
Web sites, appeared to be accurate.
Advar News, a Web site run by former students, reported Sunday that one 
advocate, Ali Nikoonesbati, who was arrested last month, had been released.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1196847291397&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Dec 9, 2007 10:59 | Updated Dec 9, 2007 13:01
Iranian agents detain activists planning a protest at a university
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Iran's Intelligence Ministy has detained a group of activists it described 
as hecklers who planned to stage an illegal gathering in Teheran University, 
state television reported Sunday.

Quoting a statement by the Intelligence Ministry, the TV report said the 
activists, who came from various cities, entered the university using fake 
identification cards before they were detained.

The report said intelligence officers confiscated concussion grenades, 
illegal books and statements as well as alcoholic beverages from the 
detainees.

It did not elaborate on number of detainees or say when the arrest took 
place. But on Tuesday, a group of leftist students said 33 students and 
activists including four women were detained after they staged a protest on 
the Teheran University campus.

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSL0447857720071104

Iran students hold protest against arrests: ISNA
Sun Nov 4, 2007 12:07pm EST


TEHRAN (Reuters) - A group of Iranian students gathered at Tehran University 
on Sunday to protest against the detentions of three fellow students last 
week, an Iranian news agency reported on Sunday.
ISNA, the students' news agency, said the three were held during a small 
demonstration at another university in the Iranian capital last Tuesday, 
which was held to protest against the suspension of some students.
"Imprisoned students must be freed," the students chanted, ISNA reported 
without saying how many they were. It was not clear why the students were 
arrested but another Iranian news agency had said last week's rally was 
illegal.
Student protests have been relatively rare in recent years in the Islamic 
Republic, which is locked in an escalating nuclear row with the United 
States and is often criticized by Western rights groups for acting against 
dissent at home.
But earlier in October, more than 100 students scuffled with police and 
hardline supporters of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on the campus of Tehran 
University outside a hall where the president was about to speak.
Liberal-minded students and academics have criticized Ahmadinejad for 
clamping down on dissent on Iranian campuses, although the president and his 
government insist they support free speech and welcome constructive 
opposition.
Students and activists say some of those who have spoken out against 
Ahmadinejad and his government in the past two years have been detained or 
blacklisted from university courses.
Protester Farbod Hashemi, quoted by ISNA, told the crowd at Sunday's rally:
"We have gathered here to again express our protest to everyone ... We use 
this open tribunal to say we are ready to sacrifice our lives for happiness 
and freedom."
Ahmadinejad swept to office in 2005 vowing to distribute Iran's oil wealth 
fairly and a return to revolutionary ideals.
Critics say his policies have stoked inflation and his fiery rhetoric has 
provoked Western nations to impose sanctions.

http://www.ncr-iran.org/content/view/4472/152/

Photo report: Iranian students protest against the regime

Sunday, 09 December 2007
NCRI- On Sunday, Iranian students held protest at Tehran University chanting 
anti-government slogans.

"Ahmadi-Pinochet, Iran will not become Chile!", "Death to dictator," "Free 
all political prisoners," "University is wide awake," "University is the 
last barricade," "Students die but will not be humiliated," "Mr. President 
the student movement will stand until the end", chanted the students.

NCRI- On Sunday, Iranian students held protest at Tehran University chanting 
anti-government slogans.

"Ahmadi-Pinochet, Iran will not become Chile!", "Death to dictator," "Free 
all political prisoners," "University is wide awake," "University is the 
last barricade," "Students die but will not be humiliated," "Mr. President 
the student movement will stand until the end", chanted the students.