- 8 December 2010
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- 4 Comments
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- Iranian Youth
Media Overlooks Iran Student’s Day Protest, 16 Azar
8 December 2010 Posted By Lily Samimi
Yesterday was the 57th anniversary of Iran’s Student Day and the 2nd student’s day protest since the birth of the Green Movement in June 2009. Unfortunately this didn’t hit mainstream media. This could either be because of Iran’s constant censorship or the media being consumed with other Iran topics, i.e. Wikileaks and P5+1 talks.
Students from all kinds of universities poured out onto the streets of Iran mourning the loss of their colleagues during the June 2009 aftermath, demanding the release of political prisoners, and demanding their civil rights. Mir Hossien Mousavi’s Facebook page shows quite a few videos and pictures from yesterday of different universities protesting. Additionally, on Mousavi’s page, supporters of the Green movement, Khatami and Karroubi have released statements of their support.
It is unsure as to how many protestors were out on the streets and how many people were arrested. However, there are several reports and videos talking about yesterday’s events, including this video from BBC Persian.
Enduring America blogged about the media and government completely overlooking the protests in Iran.
Even those who are often accused by the Iranian Government of carrying out a US Government of “regime change” have no words on the regime and the students. The Voice of America declined to cover the story. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is silent, apart from a pointer in its Press Review to a Los Angeles Times story.
Tehran Bureau reports on specific student protests around the country and first hand accounts.
The largest protests were reported at Tehran University’s Faculty of Medicine, where students and professors held a demonstration about a thousand people strong — they demanded political rights and the release of political detainees. A gathering of around a thousand students at Amir Kabir Polytechnic University sang patriotic songs and called for political prisoners to be freed.
Wall Street Journal reports on the Basiji forces surrounding student protests.
Riot police and security forces surrounded Tehran University, the epicenter of student activism, according to witnesses and online videos. Iranian law prohibits security forces from entering the campus, but students said as many as 400 plainclothes militia members had entered to intimidate students. Security forces built scaffolding around the entire campus and covered it with tents, in an apparent attempt to cut off communication between student protestors inside and passersby outside, according to videos and witness accounts.
Its hard to say what exactly happened yesterday, but it is evident that the Green Movement remains alive in Iranian hearts and minds.
4 Responses to “Media Overlooks Iran Student’s Day Protest, 16 Azar”
Honestly, Lily, the student protests at UC Berkeley two weeks ago were much bigger than those yesterday in Iran. As you probably know, UC students here in California are protesting tuition hikes that are now put the price of a UC education at tens of thousands of dollars per semester! There were a number of arrests at the UC protests.
In Iran, higher education at public institutions such as the University of Tehran are considered a human right to those that qualify, and are free.
Public universities such as UC Berkeley were once considered a human right to those that qualified, too. That is until none other than Governor Ronald Reagan starting charging students in California, setting off a precedent that has snow balled into what it is today. That started in the early 1970s, if memory serves me correctly.
Anyway, kinda puts things in perspective, don’t you think?
And here’s additional “perspective”, this coming out of the UK:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/12/08/international/i211022S36.DTL
Lily, just thought you’d like to know that yet another poll has come out reflecting consistently nearly the same figures as the official results of the 2009 election (that makes four now), as well as reflecting results that a solid majority of Iranians inside Iran support their Islamic Republic governance:
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/65872019/Iran-Public-Opinion-2010
Please take this into consideration when speaking on behalf of “the Iranian people.”
Pirouz, who are you trying to convince? It may help to first convince yourself, perhaps by writing in an online journal or something. Three posts in a row repeating the same silly arguments that have been debunked before just starts to look desperate.