The BBC has confirmed footage of protesters marching on the Sharif University of Technology campus in the capital Tehran on Saturday. Clashes were later recorded between them and government supporters.
A sit-in protest was held at another university in Tehran, while a rally was also reported in the northeast of the country. Students paid tribute to the thousands who died in mass protests in January.
The United States is increasing its military presence near Iran, and President Donald Trump has said he is considering a limited military strike. The US and European allies suspect that Iran is moving towards developing nuclear weapons, which Iran always denies.
US and Iranian officials met in Switzerland on Tuesday and said progress had been made in talks to limit Iran’s nuclear program.
Yet despite the alleged progress, Trump later said the world would know “in the next, probably ten days” whether a deal with Iran will be reached or whether the US will take military action. The US leader has previously supported the protesters, at one point encouraging them by promising that “help is on the way”.
Footage confirmed by the BBC shows hundreds of protesters, many with Iranian national flags, marching peacefully through the Sharif University of Technology campus at the start of the new semester on Saturday.
The crowd chanted “death to the dictator,” referring to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and other anti-government slogans.
The BBC also confirmed footage from another Tehran university, the Amir Kabir University of Technology, where students shouted anti-government slogans.
Later in the day, larger protests were reported in other locations, with calls for new rallies on Sunday.
Last month’s protests began due to economic problems, and soon spread to become the largest since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The US-based human rights agency said it had confirmed the deaths of at least 6,159 people during the wave, including 5,804 protesters, 92 children and 214 people linked to the government.
(Vijesti.ba / Fena)
