Students at the Science and Research branch of Azad University in Tehran held their third day of demonstrations on Monday. The protesters sat in the middle of the street, blocking the road. The students were protesting the bus accident last week that killed ten and injured dozens more.

Protests at Tehran University

A report on today's rallies in Tehran, #Iran, by college students protesting the Iranian regime's policies.#IranProtestshttps://t.co/W9Zg9BwUHM

— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) December 31, 2018

Tehran University students also protested on Monday, marching outside their campus in protest of the crackdown against students at the Science and Research branch at Azad University

December 31
Tehran, #Iran
People & college students rallying despite intense security measures.

Chants:
"No fear, we're all together"#IranProtests pic.twitter.com/DGYjqO8kgj

— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) December 31, 2018

MEK sources report that the protesters chanted, “No fear, we’re all together!”

“Incompetent officials, resign, resign!”
“Facing our nation, with our backs to the enemy!”

The Tehran University students were also protesting the bus accident that took the lives of ten students. Reports from MEK sources indicate that protesters at the rally clashed with plainclothes security forces who were dispatched to prevent the protest from spreading. Further clashes were reported as security forces attempted to prevent the students from marching to Enghelab (Revolution) Square in Tehran.

The students chanted, “Coward, coward!” at the security forces as they continued their protest. Sources witnessed a security agent attempt to arrest a woman for protesting. Other protesters prevented her arrest and allowed her to escape.

Deadly Bus Crash

Azad University Students Maintain Protest for Second Consecutive Day

The protests, which began on Saturday, are in response to a deadly bus crash and subsequent cover-up by University officials. The accident occurred when a bus carrying university students careened off a mountainous road and crashed into a concrete column, killing 10 passengers and injuring another 27. Officials initially claimed that the driver of the bus had a heart attack, causing the crash, but the coroner investigating the case later denied that claim.

Dangerous Buses

The protesters say that university and regime officials did not do enough to prevent the crash. Iranian universities use buses that are old, in poor condition, and not well-maintained. The fleet of buses meant to serve Iran’s students are dangerous.

University officials at Azad University attempted to placate the angry students by washing the remaining buses in their fleet. They then claimed that these were new buses. The students were not fooled by this transparent and insulting lie and have demanded that university officials be held to account for their failure to provide safe transportation and for their role in the fatal bus crash.

Protesters’ Demands

According to reports, regime Attorney General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri visited Azad University on Sunday, hoping to stem the spread of protests. The students demanded answers from Montazeri and insisted that he be held to account.

Meanwhile, Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi, the President of Azad University’s Science and Research branch, was so desperate to avoid students that he fled campus in his car, running over several students in the process. Two students were later  treated at the hospital for injuries to their feet.

The protesters are demanding that officials take responsibility for their negligence toward the students. They are demanding the resignation of Ali-Akbar Velayati, the chairman of the university’s the board of trustees. Velayati is a close advisor to regime Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The Iranian regime spends billions of dollars exporting terrorism and funding its ballistic missile program, but tran’s students are left in dangerous conditions, due to lack of funding.

Staff Writer

Protesters at Azad University gathered on Sunday, December 30^th, for the second consecutive day to protest the loss of their peers in a tragic bus accident.

The students from Tehran’s Azad University of Science and Research turned out to protest the irresponsible plunder of public assets by the Iranian regime which has left Iran’s roads in dangerous conditions.

Traffic accidents are rampant, and the public infrastructure is ill-equipped to handle other disasters such as fires and earthquakes.

The senior management of the university is all under the direct control of the Iranian regime leadership. The head of the board of trustees of the university, Ali Akbar Velayati is an adviser and former foreign minister to Khamenei. The Supreme Leader’s office controls university affairs.

It was hardly surprising, therefore, that the university president avoided answering student’s demands and instead preferred to flee the university in his car.

#Iran
Dec 30
New #video of Run over Azad university students & hit their gathering by car by Tehranchi the university manager in #Tehran!!#چله_افتخار #خیزش_دی۹۷ #IranProtests #FreeIran #IranRegimeChange @FoxNews @USAdarFarsi @VOAIran @thevocaleurope #دانشگاه_علوم_تحقیقات pic.twitter.com/ssMZj8rePl

— mostafa.m (@MostafaMe4) December 31, 2018

The regime and university dismissed low ranking officials in the wake of the accident, but the dismissals did not affect the individuals responsible for the crime.

The Iranian resistance movement, including the People’s Mujahedin Organisation of Iran (MEK) and the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), expressed their sincere condolences to the families and peers of the students killed in the accident.

They also echoed the protesting students’ sentiments that the culprits responsible for the accident were not the low-level officials removed from their posts, but the regime’s leadership itself. “Due to astronomical plunders and expenditures on suppression and terrorism, this regime has caused the highest rate of casualties in such incidents”, a statement from the NCRI read.

A display of bravery

The students turned out despite a heavy regime presence in the form of plainclothes agents. The Ministry of Intelligence (MOIS) deployed Basij and Heraset agents inside the university to prevent the protests from spreading.

Dec 31, #Iran
Students of Azad University & people starting to hold a gathering outside Tehran university,that the plainclothes agents raiding the protesters. They say leave him and continued.#IranProtests#علوم_و_تحقیقات pic.twitter.com/GR2rBepbAV

— Iran Freedom (@4FreedominIran) December 31, 2018

In 2018, the MOIS has been relentless in its persecution of protestors. Following the December/January uprisings, the regime arrested more than 8,000 protestors, many of which were subject to brutal torture and prison conditions that amounted to severe human rights abuses.

But the protesters would not be deterred, chanting “students rather die than tolerate humiliation”, “Velayati, Velayati, you are responsible for this crime”, and “incompetent person in charge should be tried!” Other chants went even further, asserting, “You shameless killer!”

Several students also blocked the traffic outside the university. In response, the regime’s agents stopped students entering the university buildings to prevent the protest’s spread.

Staff Writer