Iranian students go on nationwide strike to protest arrests and virtual classes
While nationwide protests continue in Iran, students at several Iranian universities have announced that they will refuse to attend classes in protest of security clashes with students, the arrest of protesting students, and the transition to virtual education.
Sharif University of Technology, Al-Zahra University, Khajeh Nasir al-Din Toosi University, Tehran University of Rehabilitation Sciences, Kharazmi, Soure, Chamran in Ahvaz, Sahand in Tabriz, and Bu-Ali Sina in Hamedan are among the universities whose students have announced a strike.
The trade union council of Sharif University of Technology in Tehran, in a letter to the university's president, called the university's officials' actions in response to the recent protests inadequate and incorrect, and wrote that the council has called on all students at the university to refrain from attending classes until their detained classmates are released.
The Sharif University of Technology's trade union council also considered the virtual holding of classes to be without any justification and added: "Even if our classmates are released, we ask students not to participate in the university's virtual classes under any circumstances in protest of this decision."
The council previously announced that security forces carried out "mass arrests of students" during a protest rally at Sharif University on Saturday evening.
According to the union council report, the rally then moved to the university entrance, but a large number of Basij and plainclothes forces disrupted the rally and recorded the images of the protesting students.
The rally was also held in a situation where the university was surrounded by security forces and students were not allowed to move around the university.
In addition to students from Sharif University of Technology, a group of students from Chamran University of Ahvaz also announced that they will hold a peaceful gathering and sit-in in the courtyard of the university's Faculty of Engineering on Monday morning, October 25, in support of the protests of the Iranian people, and will refrain from attending classes, laboratories, and the library.
These students also called on university professors and staff to join the peaceful academic strike and protest, close classes, and officially declare their position.
The trade union council of Sahand University of Technology in Tabriz also announced a hunger strike by students in the dormitory, while boycotting virtual classes.
