The violent crackdown on Tehran’s elite students led to massive protests across Iran.
Students at the Sharif University of Technology in Tehran were locked inside the university’s parking lot by state security forces on October 2, 2022.
The Sharif University of Technology is one of the world’s best universities and admits elite students.
Numerous videos by eyewitnesses and students demonstrate the horrific attack on the students who tried to find a safe exit. Security forces used pellet guns and live ammunition against the trapped students and injured many.
The tense situation continued in Sharif University throughout the night, with parents, family, and locals gathering to support the attacked students and demand their release.
The Iranian authorities dispatched additional groups of security forces to crack down on the growing crowd of people by using teargas and bullets.
Reports indicate that many students were injured and arrested. Reportedly, the detained students have been transferred to a military garrison in Afsarieh.
At the same time, students remaining on campus held protests demanding the security forces open the university’s gates and let them go.
The students had held a massive anti-regime rally on campus on the evening of Sunday, October 2, before being attacked by security forces, chased into the parking lot, and rounded up.
Solidarity with Sharif University students
Students held peaceful protests in dozens of universities across Iran on October 3, in the wake of the violent crackdown on Sharif students in Tehran. They included the universities in Tehran, Isfahan, Zanjan, Semnan, Urmia, Kermanshah, Tabriz, Qom, Mashhad, and Birjand.
In Tabriz, security forces shot students with pellet guns and injured dozens.
Security forces fired tear gas inside the campus of Isfahan University in another attempt to silence the young protesters.
Students holding these protests chanted, “Students are awake” and “Death to the dictator.”
They also demanded the release of imprisoned students by chanting, “Free all imprisoned students.”
Monday, October 3, also saw schoolchildren in several Iranian cities joining the protests.
In Shiraz, the students of a primary school were chanting, “Mullahs get lost!” Schoolgirls were chanting, “Death to the dictator!”