iran unfiltered

Rooz reports that student activists are being put under increasing pressure ahead of a few upcoming dates on the calendar that may be occasions for anti-government protests:

- 2 Khordad (May 23): the anniversary of Mohammad Khatami's landslide win in 1997 and the symbolic start of the reformist movement

- 22 Khordad (June 12): the anniversary of last year's stolen presidential election

- 25 Khordad (June 15): the anniversary of of the biggest post-election protest rally

Some students have been summoned to disciplinary committees and threatened with expulsion if they participate in rallies.  Others have been ordered not to come to their respective campuses on those days, even if they have scheduled classes/exams. 

The tense calm in Iranian universities was shattered yesterday when Ahmadinejad decided to pay a surprise visit to Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran. The students weren't thrilled to see him, particularly since his visit follows the execution of five Kurdish activists over the weekend. 

CNN reports on the events:

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's unannounced visit to Tehran University Saturday prompted a student protest:

The last chant in the clip is "Students, workers, unity, unity" in a nod to the fact that the rally took place on May Day.

More than 2000 students at Tehran's Sharif University have signed a letter to the school's president protesting the detention of three of their classmates.

While their number and frequency have certainly dwindled in comparison to the few months immediately after the stolen June election, students continue to protest on university campuses.  This week, students at the Iran University of Science & Technology held a vigil to commemorate what would have been the 27th birthday of Kianoosh Asa, a student killed by government forces in the post-election unrest:

Students at Babol University (in the northern city of Babol) also held a protest:

Rooz has a report on the continued pressure being placed by the government on the prominent student group Office for Strengthening Unity (Daftar-e Tahkim-e Vahdat) as well as on student activists across the country.

The BBC has a report on university students boycotting final exams to protest the detention of their classmates and other post-election actions by the government.

Here are videos from university protests today.

At Iran University of Science & Technology (Elm-o Sanat) in Tehran, students chanted slogans in support of Ayatollah Montazeri (example: "Innocent Montazeri, your path will continue...even if the dictator showers us with bullets") as well as killed student protester Kianoosh Asa and a variety of protest slogans:

At Kordestan University:

It's now a full week after the 16 Azar protests on the occasion of Student Day, and unrest continues on university campuses in Iran.  Videos below are from today.

Students at Tehran University singing the resistance anthem 'Yare Dabestani':

In the below video, also at Tehran University, students cheer the speaker's words of praise for Mir Hossein Mousavi.  I'm not sure of the reason for the gathering but it's unusual in that the speaker is pro-Mousavi; in the usual student protest videos of recent months, a pro-Ahmadinejad speaker is heckled by protesting students.

At Sharif University, students accuse the hardline faction of staging the Khomeini-photo-gate controversy (see here) by chanting "He who has cheated [in the election], has torn the photos [of Khomeini]":

Outside of Tehran, protests also took place today at Shahroud University:

Students have staged campus protests for the third consecutive day; here is video from Tehran's Sharif University in which students are chanting "backwardness, crimes...two pillars of the leadership":

Students Day (16 Azar) protests have spilled over into today.  These videos, taken from Tehran University, show clashes between students and members of the Basij that weren't so prevalent in most of yesterday's videos:

Is it just me or is Mohammad-Hossein Saffar Harandi, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's former Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance, trying to set a record by getting heckled at every single university in Iran?  Here's the latest, from a university in the city of Ardebil, in which students are chanting "A no-star general is not worth a shoe!" (in reference to shoes being thrown recently at government officials):

Students at Tehran University have staged a hunger strike today to protest the detention of university student Mehrdad Bozorg, whose name they have spelled out with lunch plates on a campus sidewalk:

Students gathered today at the University of Science and Technology in Tehran to protest the continuing detention of university student Pooya Sharifi.  In this clip, the students are chanting "Death to the dictator" and "We are the children of war, fight us and we'll fight back":

Yesterday in Ghazvin (a city west of Tehran), students protested the appearance of conservative Majles member and Ahmadinejad supporter Hamid Rassaee, interrupting him throughout his speech and apparently forcing him to leave the stage prematurely.  Toward the end of this clip, Rassaee tries to encourage chants of "Death to America" and the students respond with "Death to Russia", forcing him in the end to suggest both chants as "we're enemies of both."

For the fourth consecutive day, students at Tehran's Khaje Nasir University protested the arrest and detention of two university students, Soheil Mohammadi and Ali Parviz, singing the resistance song 'Yare Dabestani' and chanting slogans such as "Prisoned students must be released!" and "Students will die but won't accept submission."