Students at multiple Iranian universities staged protests as the new semester commenced on Saturday, with some engaging in clashes with pro-government factions, as reported by local news outlets and social media posts. The demonstrations coincided with customary ceremonies held after 40 days to mourn individuals who lost their lives during security force actions in last month’s anti-government uprisings, marking the deadliest internal turmoil in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Footage circulating online purportedly depicted lines of protesters at Tehran’s Sharif University of Technology denouncing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as a “murderous leader” and advocating for Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s deposed shah, to assume the throne. State-linked news agencies like SNN shared videos showing confrontations, with demonstrators reportedly injuring volunteer student Basij militia members by pelting rocks at Iran’s premier engineering institute. The Basij, aligned with the government, frequently aid security forces in suppressing unrest.
Additional protests took place at Beheshti and Amir Kabir universities in Tehran, as well as at Mashhad University in the northeast, as per footage disseminated by the HAALVSH rights organization, whose content Reuters could not independently authenticate. In Abdanan, a focal point for civil disobedience, protesters chanted slogans such as “Death to Khamenei” and “Death to the dictator” following the apprehension of an activist educator, as documented by Hengaw rights group and social platforms.