Reporting by PMOI/MEK
Iran, February 18, 2020—The students of the University of Science and Technology of Tehran held a rally on Monday, protesting recent crimes by the Iranian regime’s security forces, including the downing of a passenger airplane and the killing of protesters in January. They also rejected the upcoming parliamentary elections, which the regime has been widely publicizing.
The students held banners that read:
- We will neither vote, nor boycott, we will be in the streets
- Our parliament is the street
- The people's rage is the measure (a play on the regime's slogan: "The people's vote is the measure")
Another banner read, “The mothers are mourning, everywhere in Iran is a marsh.” This is a reference to the brutal killing of protesters in the marshes of Mahshar during the November protests, where security forces conducted a massacre of over 130 people with heavy machine guns and armored vehicles.
February 17 – Tehran, #Iran
A group of students in Iran University of Science & Technology protest crimes of the mullahs' regime & the IRGC, including the killing of over 1,500 protesters during the November 2019 uprising & shooting down a Ukrainian airliner.#IranProtests pic.twitter.com/VczdL1JhD0— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) February 17, 2020
The Iranian regime dispatched security forces to suppress the students’ protests. In January, widespread protests by students in various Iranian cities called for regime change. After that, the regime has become terrified by any student gathering and tries to suppress them with an iron fist. Other universities have made similar calls for protests against the regime.
Tehran students reject upcoming parliamentary elections
On Sunday, a group of families of the detained protesters in Sanandaj gathered in front of the local office of the intelligence ministry and demanded the immediate release of their relatives. During the November 2019 uprisings, Iranian security forces killed more than 1,500 protesters and arrested some 12,000 others. Harrowing accounts from inside Iran’s prisoners indicate authorities are brutally torturing the prisoners and many have died in custody.
During Sunday’s protests, security forces insulted and threatened the families of the detainees. But the demonstrators declared that they will continue their protests until the situation of their loved ones becomes clear.
Protests by families of detained protesters in Sanandaj
In Paveh, Kurdistan province, merchants and shop owners went on strike on Monday and closed their businesses in protest to the crimes of security forces against porters. On the previous day, security forces had opened fire on a group of porters who had been stuck in the snow, killing and injuring several people. In sympathy with the families of the victims and outrage at the crimes of the regime, the merchants of Paveh closed their shops.
Porters have one of the harshest lives in Iran. They have to walk miles carrying heavy loads on the treacherous landscape to make ends meet. In addition to braving heavy snow and poor weather conditions, the porters also have to regularly deal with attacks from security forces, who ruthlessly open fire and kill them.
In Isfahan, the students of the dental college of Isfahan’s medical sciences left their classes and protested changes to the education system and shortage of educational facilities.
The students held papers that read: “Students are awake and outraged from hollow promises.”
Protests by students of Isfahan University
