"Private uniforms" attack a gathering of students at Tehran University
According to reports, a number of students at the University of Tehran gathered on Monday, May 13, to protest the recent clashes between university security and students' clothing, but a number of "Basijis" and "private clothing" attacked the gathering, preventing it from continuing, and clashes continued in the amphitheater of the Faculty of Fine Arts.
?New clip of #Tehran University students gathering to protest medieval laws
With the slogan "Students die, they will not accept humiliation." #NationalProtests pic.twitter.com/JIJ8iCd5IB— Hamid (@hamidd100) May 13, 2019
According to images and videos posted on social media, students were holding signs protesting the recent restrictions on clothing, chanting slogans such as: "Choice of clothing is our inalienable right" and "Freedom of choice is our inalienable right."
The heated atmosphere at Tehran University in protest against the mandatory hijab and the presence of Basij thugs chanting "Allahu Akbar" #Death_to_Khamenei #Death_to_the_Islamic_Republic #People_Rise pic.twitter.com/N6MpCPdx39
— Silent Scream (@lena27197259) May 13, 2019
In videos posted on social media, a group of plainclothes men, including several clerics and people of various ages, disrupt the student gathering by chanting slogans such as "Allahu Akbar" and "Shame on the lawless, leave the university."
As the student gathering in front of the Fine Arts and Technical College campus broke up, they took refuge in the Fine Arts College amphitheater, but plainclothes officers also stormed there.
During the student gathering in the university courtyard and the amphitheater, slogans such as "Students die, they will not accept humiliation," "Unemployment, forced labor, forced hijab for women" were also heard, and some students were holding pictures of the arrested student Marzieh Amiri.
The Student News Agency, affiliated with the Student Basij, called the attackers "Tehran University students" and claimed that the protesters were "a number of leftist activists" who were chanting "against some religious rulings and the country's laws."
In recent weeks, students at a number of Tehran universities have reported the tightening of restrictions on compulsory hijab and the presence of "guidance patrols" on campus, especially with the beginning of Ramadan.
However, ISNA news agency quoted Majid Sarsangi, vice president for cultural affairs at the University of Tehran, as reporting that the regulations regarding clothing at the university have not changed.
In an interview with ISNA, Majid Sarsangi strongly denied the presence of the "guidance patrol" at Tehran University, but said: "Security forces were present on the university campus to warn people who do not observe the sanctity of fasting."
The vice president of cultural affairs at the University of Tehran has also claimed that Monday's clash at the university was between "two groups of students with different thinking and ideas."
Every year, as the weather warms up in Iran, the Islamic Republic's law enforcement and security officials implement plans to combat what they call "bad hijab."
Hossein Ashtari, commander of the Islamic Republic's police force, announced about three weeks before the start of the citizens' clothing control plan, which he referred to as "moral and social security plans."
The Iranian police chief also announced last week that the police force, along with the Basij organization, will launch "neighborhood-based patrols" by the end of this year, which, he said, "is one of the goals of which is to improve people's security."
Plans to control citizens' clothing and restrictions imposed on women in Iran have always been criticized by civil society and human rights organizations.
Source: Radio Farda
