Regime takes action against students: Iranian university suspends teaching after violence

Iranian security forces used massive force against a demonstration by students and professors at Tehran's Sharif University.

Regime takes action against students: Iranian university suspends teaching after violence

Iranian security forces used massive force against a demonstration by students and professors at Tehran's Sharif University. The management of the university reacts and suspends classes until further notice. The offer of online courses is likely to fail due to the regime's network blocking.

After the violent unrest at Sharif University in Tehran, classes were suspended until further notice. According to the news portal Aftab-News, classes at the Iranian university will only take place online. According to students, however, this is currently hardly feasible because of the internet blocking that was imposed in connection with the system-critical protests.

According to local media reports, security forces used violence against students on Sunday evening. Police officers and militias sealed off the campus on Monday night. According to the Iranian news portal "Emtedad", several professors at the elite university were also beaten. There was talk of a police attack and “civil war-like” conditions on social media. The Iranian media dismissed these reports as exaggerated anti-system sentiment.

Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock reacted with horror to the incidents at Tehran's Sharif University. It was "hard to bear what is happening at Sharif University in Iran," Baerbock wrote on Twitter. At the same time, she expressed admiration for the protesters there: "The courage of the Iranians is incredible." In this context, Baerbock criticized "the brute force of the regime". This is "an expression of pure fear of the power of education and freedom."

Federal Education Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger made a similar statement: "Thugs are looking for the voices of freedom," she wrote on Twitter. The "brave people who risk their lives for more self-determination" must "now have our attention and solidarity," she wrote on Twitter.

The demonstrations were triggered by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini a good two weeks ago. The moral police had arrested her because of her alleged "un-Islamic outfit". What happened to Amini after that is unclear. The woman fell into a coma and died in a hospital on September 16. Critics accuse the morality police of using violence; the police deny it. Since the young woman's death, thousands of people have been demonstrating across the country against the repressive course taken by the government and security forces, as well as against the Islamic system.