‘Our classrooms are empty because the graveyards are full’: Iran’s students on why they are protesting again

As details of the death toll for January’s protests continue to emerge, three students explain why they are resisting a return to normality

More than 45 days after a brutal January crackdown that left thousands of Iranian protesters dead, students across several universities are protesting again. As Iran’s new academic term began on Saturday, students in Tehran gathered on campus, chanting anti-government slogans, despite a heavy security presence and plainclothes officers stationed outside university gates.

The Guardian spoke to protesting students about why they were rallying despite the fact that thousands had been killed and tens of thousands arrested in the January demonstrations.

“Our classrooms are empty because the graveyards are full,” said Hossein*, 21, a student at the University of Tehran. “It’s for them – our friends, classmates and compatriots, who were gunned down in front of our eyes, that we decided to boycott the classes.”

Now in their third day, protests have spread to universities across the capital and the north-eastern city of Mashhad, with videos showing students chanting anti-regime slogans and clashes breaking out between protesters and pro-regime Basij forces.

“They called their spilled blood foreign-backed,” Hossein added, alluding to the regime’s labelling of dissenters as agents of foreign powers. “But we know the regime can no longer kill students on campus and call us terrorists … We are not afraid of losing our lives. We all are willing to put our lives on the line so at least the next generations of this country will live in freedom and peace.”

According to US-based organisation HRANA (Human Rights Activists News Agency), at least 7,000 people have been confirmed killed in the January crackdown, with another 11,700 deaths under investigation, while other estimates from medics across the country say the death toll is in the tens of thousands. The HRANA has recorded more than 53,000 arrests, including hundreds of students.

Although the Saturday protests marked the first large-scale rallies on campus since last month’s mass killings, smaller demonstrations had been simmering for weeks, particularly among medical students demanding the release of detained healthcare workers.

Leyla*, a student at Sharif University of Technology in Tehran, said a quiet vigil at the campus had evolved into a protest with students chanting slogans.

“Because nobody can tolerate this much grief,” she said. “We didn’t coordinate the protests in advance. It was supposed to be only a silent sit-in. [But] as soon as the students began to speak, everyone stood behind and continued. Even if it doesn’t lead to anything concrete, it is symbolic: showing that they couldn’t silence the people.”

Students were galvanised by anger at security forces and “how they killed so many people”, she said.

Campus protest videos also showed Basij (state-backed paramilitary volunteer forces) at the University of Tehran attacking protesting students, hurling threats and insults, and breaking windows. At Sharif University, Leyla said tensions quickly escalated into physical confrontations between Basij-aligned students and those protesting, with clashes continuing on Sunday.

“Many of our students were hurt and bleeding, and many [aligned with] Basij were too,” she said, with bottles and stones being thrown by both sides.

In Mashhad, Reza*, a university student, described a similar sense of collective sorrow fuelling demonstrations.

“When society is in mourning, grief and anger are felt at universities too,” he said. “Because we are grieving for our classmates and loved ones, we do not want to attend classes.”

Reza said students were coordinating the protests in Mashhad to resist a return to the status quo. “We are all in mourning, and we will confront anything that tries to make the situation appear normal. Nothing is normal. Nothing will return to the way it was before 8 January. We saw things we should have never seen … things full of fear and sorrow.

“Many of us are afraid, but when we gather together and become a visible crowd, the fear leaves us. We chant: ‘Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid … we are all together.’”

Hossein said that he expected the protests to continue in the coming days.

“These protests are against the return to normal life while our loved ones’ bodies are still warm.”

*Names have been changed to protect protesters’ identities