Anti-Regime Protests, Strikes Enter Sixth Week In Iran

The growing women-led protests in Iran entered a sixth week on Sunday while university students braved crackdown to challenge the government by holding rallies.

Sharif University students in Tehran gathered in front of the canteen entrance chanting slogans against plainclothes Basij militias who attack and arrest students.

At Tehran's Amirkabir University male and female students defied the gender segregation rules and sat next to each other at the cafeteria. They sang Shervin Hajipour's protest song together.

Videos sent from the Azad University of Karaj in Western Tehran, show students chanting “This is no longer protests, It’s the beginning of a revolution.”

At Gohardasht Azad University in Karaj students also chanted slogans like “Women, Life, Liberty”.

Students at Yazd University in central Iran gathered in the courtyard calling on others to join them chanting “If you’re neutral, You have no honor,” and “When the university’s filled with blood, It’s forbidden to attend classes.”

Videos received by Iran International show that the students of Yasouj University in southwestern Iran gathered on the campus and chanted slogans such as “Dishonored Basijis, You are our ISIS” and “I will not go to class until I retain my right.”

Similar protests were also staged at universities in Mashahd, Khomeinishahr, and several other cities to slam the clerical dictatorship as well as a range of ethnic, religious, gender and generational contentions.

Meanwhile teachers, employees, and factoryworkers reportedly went on strike to show anger at the brutal clampdown on protesters.

On Sunday, teachers showed up at schools but refused to go to classrooms to teach, to show solidarity with nationwide protests and to condemn the killing of school students.

A video received from Sanandaj in western Iran shows schoolgirls removing their hijab chanting “Death to Dictator!”

Teachers in Saqqez in Kordestan province held a sit-in holding placards that read “Don’t disturb the mental health of students” and “I sacrifice my life for my students”.

In a similar move, teachers in Kordestan’s Marivan staged a sit-in protest holding placards that read “Don’t turn school into a garrison”, “Prison is not a place for students” and "No to imprisoning teachers”.

Reports on social media say in Shiraz, Lahijan, Nishapur and Bandar-e Anzali teachers refused to attend classes as well.

Reports say four school students have been arrested in Estahban in Fars province because of writing slogans on the walls.

Bank employees held a sit-in and strike near Argentina square in Tehran for the second day protesting the corruption of the appointed CEO of the Development and Export Bank and demanding their overdue salaries.

In another development a group of theater and cinema artists gathered in front of the Artists’ House in Tehran to show anger at holding Tehran Short Film Festival amid the ongoing uprising.

Furthermore, a group of young boys and girls in central city of Esfahan joined hands together to create a chain of empathy. In recent days, similar movements, including free hugs for the grieving nation have been launched in different cities.

A video received by Iran International shows that on Sunday several women took off their headscarves on Tehran’s Resalat highway asking passing cars to join them.

Another video shows angry protesters remove the turban of a cleric chanting “Hey Mullah! Get Lost!”

Reportedly truck drivers have gone on strikes across Iran. It is said that the workers of the refineries in Asaluyeh, Bandar Abbas, Abadan, Mahshahr are still on strike, while more than two hundred of them have been arrested.