Protests Rock Iran Universities Before Nationwide Rallies Wednesday

Anti-government protests in Iran continued Tuesday with university students at the forefront of expressing anger at gender segregation and government brutality.

Students at a university in Qom, which is the Shiite religious center in Iran disrupted a speech by the government spokesman, who had been booed and silenced on Monday at another university in Tehran. They chanted “Student Dies but does not accept humiliation!” and did not let Ali Bahadori Jahromi to speak.

Qom University students also chanted slogans against Iran’s state broadcaster when its notorious correspondent Yusef Salami was trying to report from the venue of the government spokesman's speech.

In the capital students of Tehran, Beheshti, Modarres, Khajeh Nasir, Sureh, Alzahra, Azad and Allameh universities chanted different anti-regime slogans including “Tehran has turned into detention center, Evin [prison] has turned into slaughterhouse” and “Death to Dictator!”

Students in Tehran's Allameh University chanted Tuesday as they gathered around a symbol of nearly 30 children killed in the past few weeks of the uprising against the Islamic Republic.

Videos show a group of students gathered for a protest near Emam Hussein Square in central Tehran, joined by other citizens who were chanting slogans.

Iranian students in Yazd, Shar-e Kord, Babol, Karaj, and several other cities also chanted radical slogans like “Death to this Leadership”, referring to Iran’s ruler Ali Khamenei, and “Don't call me seditionist! You oppressors are the seditionists.”

The civil disobedience movement of men and women eating together at canteens in defiance of the gender segregation rules also gained momentum on Tuesday. Most universities closed their cafeterias to prevent mixed-gender dining and students had lunch sitting on the ground outside.

Meanwhile, several women’s rights activists called on the people to gather at the main squares of different cities on Wednesday to commemorate the 40th day after the death of Mahsa Amini. Shia Muslims hold a commemoration ceremony on the seventh and fortieth day after the death of a person.

This has a big cultural significance in Iran and protests are expected to be large on Wednesday.

Earlier, the anonymous activist group calling itself ‘Youths of Tehran's Neighborhoods’ published a notice urging all Iranians to gather in their cities and towns around universities and markets around noon. The group has been the main engine driving nationwide protests each Saturday and Wednesday during October.

However, government’s official news agency IRNA claimed that the family of Mahsa Amini has announced they are not going to hold the 40th day ceremony, to prevent “any unfortunate incidents”, but people on social media say this is a disinformation to stop protests.

In the meantime, industrial and business strikes spread further on Tuesday. Iranian human rights activist Atena Daemi said in a tweet that “The Free Union of Iranian Workers has announced that the employees of Tabriz Tractor Factory have stopped working and joined the nationwide strikes.”

Another user has said that restaurants and cafeterias in the northern city of Rasht have gone on strike and will be closed on Wednesday as a sign of respect on the 40th day ceremony of Mahsa Amini.

A journalist also announced that the workers of Phase 2 of Abadan Refinery will start a new round of strike on Wednesday.

The workers of Bandar Abbas, Mahshahr, Assaluyeh, and Kangan refineries in the south are reportedly on strike as well.

Workers at South Pars Gas Complex, Fars Ghadir Neyriz Steel Company, Haft Tappeh Sugar Cane Factory, Mahshahr Tube Factory, Bushehr Petrochemical Complex, Kian Tire Factory, ‌Borujerd Textile Factory, Isfahan’s SNOWA company, Khuzestan National Steel Group, Aidin Chocolate Factory in Tabriz, as well as truck drivers continue their strikes.