Tensions at Science and Technology University between supporters of Rouhani and Ahmadinejad’s followers
During the opening ceremony of the “Arman Islamic Association” at Science and Technology University in Tehran, tensions erupted among students supporting two opposing factions. The ceremony was scheduled to be held today on Farvardin 31 (April 19) at the auditorium of Science and Technology University, but ended prematurely due to the outbreak of tensions. Ali Shokouri Rad and Ibrahim Asgarzadeh, who are political activists and among the “students following the Imam’s line” involved in the 1979 hostage-taking of American diplomats, were speakers at the ceremony. Science and Technology University is known as the former teaching institution of Ahmadinejad.
Before the opening ceremony of Arman Islamic Association at Science and Technology University began, “a group of students opposed to the government were present in the hall holding yellow Hezbollah banners and chanting slogans.”
The protesting students, before Shokouri Rad began his speech, held handwritten notes with the content “the sedition-monger of Ashura must be executed” and subsequently disrupted his speech. Although university security personnel confiscated some dangerous items that some individuals had brought with them, several of these people attempted multiple times to rush toward the podium to beat down Asgarzadeh. The content of Asgarzadeh’s speech was criticism of policies during the Ahmadinejad era. According to reports, “a group with the slogan ‘Hezbollah, Hezbollah’ prevented his speech from continuing and the session remained incomplete.”
