Students at several universities in Iran held the first large-scale anti-regime rallies this weekend since last month’s bloody crackdown.
Footage shared on Persian-language media showed clashes erupting as crowds chanted slogans such as “death to [Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei” and “bi sharaf” or “disgraceful” in Farsi, at what AFP identified as Tehran’s top leading engineering institution, Sharif University of Technology, on Saturday. According to the dissident media outlet Iran International, the violence began when the Basij paramilitary force, a branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), moved in on the protestors.
Iran International also reported demonstrations at Beheshti University, the University of Tehran, and Amir Kabir University of Technology, where footage published by Iran International shows demonstrators yelling “Long live the king” in reference to the monarchy toppled in Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution. The outlet cited the student union of Amir Kabir as saying that security forces blocked the school’s exit and detained students.
At Beheshti, students held a sit-in in solidarity with people killed or imprisoned during the regime’s crackdown last month, according to a student union statement cited by Iran International.
ویدیوهای رسیده از تجمع دانشجویان دانشگاه امیرکبیر در روز شنبه دوم اسفند نشان میدهد این دانشجویان همزمان با یادبود جاویدنامان انقلاب ملی شعار «جاوید شاه» سر میدهند. pic.twitter.com/MyP711Moi6
— ايران اينترنشنال (@IranIntl) February 21, 2026
Iran International quoted Sharif University President Masoud Tajrishi calling for perpetrators of “illegal acts” to be “dealt with.”
“The enemy wants the university to become virtual, but we will not allow it,” Tajrishi was quoted as saying. “We want to show that we can manage the university. Anyone who carries out illegal acts at the university must be dealt with.”
Protests this week marked 40 days — the traditional Shiite mourning period — since thousands of demonstrators were killed in a crackdown that peaked on January 8 and 9 after unrest first broke out in December. The protests have since evolved into a broader movement for an end to the Islamic government regime.
While the total death toll cannot be verified, the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) has recorded more than 7,000 killings in the crackdown, the majority of whom were protesters, though the toll may be far higher. US President Donald Trump said Friday that Iran had killed 32,000 people during the recent protests.
Iranian authorities, who have historically undercounted deaths in previous crackdowns, acknowledge more than 3,000 deaths, but say the violence was caused by “terrorist acts” fuelled by Iran’s enemies.
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