University students go on a nationwide strike in protest against arrests and widespread suppression of students
26-September-2022
Category: protesters، Students
September 26, 2022
News group: protests – students –
Breathing in Confinement: Concurrently with the nationwide protests in Iran and the escalating detentions, students at various universities in Iran went on strike. They announced that they won’t attend the classrooms in protest of the suppressions and the arrest of the protesting students and also the virtualization of education.
According to “Breathing in Confinement”, the news organ of the Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran, the universities where the students have declared a strike include Sharif University of Technology, Al-Zahra University, Khajeh Nasireddin Toosi University, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Kharazmi University , Soureh University, Chamran University in Ahvaz, Sahand University in Tabriz, and Bu-Ali Sina University in Hamedan. Students have also invited their professors to join the strike.
A large number of Sharif University students were arrested during Saturday’s protests. In protest of these arrests, the Union Council of University Students asked all students to refrain from attending classrooms until their arrested classmates are released.
In addition, the Trade Union Council of Sharif University in Technology considered the virtual classes unjustifiable and added: “Even if our classmates are released, we request students not to attend the virtual classes in anyway.”
In addition to the students at Sharif University of Technology, a group of students at Chamran University in Ahvaz announced that on the morning of Monday, September 26, they will gather and sit peacefully in the campus of the university’s engineering faculty to support the protests of the people of Iran and refrain from attending the classrooms, laboratories and libraries.
The students also asked the professors and staff of the university to join the strike and peaceful protest, close the classrooms and take a clear stand.
The Trade Union Council of Sahand University of Technology in Tabriz also announced the hunger strike of students in the dormitory while boycotting virtual classes.
Also in Hamadan, a group of students at Bu Ali Sina University boycott the classes. They announced in a statement: “The brutal suppression of peaceful protests in the universities, as well as the illegal arrest of students without notifying them of their charges, and the sudden replacement of classes with virtual education when the access to the internet is restricted” are obvious offences to the students and are in no way acceptable.”
In recent days and after the death of Mahsa Amini in the “Moral Police Detention Center”, students of universities in Tehran and other cities of Iran started massive protest rallies where a large number of protesting students were arrested.
“Breathing in Confinement” has previously published the identities of 22 of the arrested students, which will soon be updated.
Shiraz University and Noshirvani universitie in Babol were also among the universities where student gatherings turned violent and security forces arrested a number of protesting students.
With the increase of protest gatherings in universities, the university authorities decided to replace the classrooms with virtual mode of education under the pretext of “helping the non-local students”. This however, is only to prevent the protest gatherings in the universities.