TEHRAN: Iranian authorities have slapped a ban on any commemorations marking the fifth anniversary this week of anti-regime student unrest, officials announced on Tuesday. In a statement carried in the Iranian press, security affairs chief for Tehran Ali Taala said the decision to bar gatherings had been taken by the interior ministry, and a request for a student event outside Tehran University had been rejected. A similar decision has also been applied in the central Iranian city of Isfahan, press reports said. In addition the Tehran University campus will also be shut down for the anniversary. A pro-reform student group said it had been informed the measure was taken to âdisinfect the campus because of cockroach infestationâ, the student news agency ISNA reported. On July 9, 1999, pro-democracy students clashed with police in Tehran and other cities in unrest sparked by a heavy-handed police and vigilante raid on a smaller dormitory protest over newspaper closures. On the anniversary itself in 2003, protestors merely took to the streets in their cars, with the sidewalks and universities patrolled by huge numbers of police. This year the anniversary falls on Thursday, July 8, due to the difference in the Gregorian and Persian calendars.
Meanwhile, Iranian riot police have lined the streets of the capital, Tehran, to crack down on chaotic traffic but students see a show of strength ahead of this weekâs anniversary of unrest in 1999. âThe plan has helped the flow of traffic in major cities, especially in Tehran,â deputy police chief Mohsen Ansari told IRNA. With some 22,000 deaths on Iranian roads each year, few doubt something needs to be done. But others were less than reassured by the special police units in camouflage paramilitary uniforms dangling batons and pepper spray at junctions around Tehran. Student leader Abdollah Momeni told Reuters the presence of special police forces created âa menacing atmosphere to prevent student protestsâ. Since the 1999 pro-reform protests, the student movement has been severely weakened by the arrest and imprisonment of many of its leaders. Students said they doubted any protests would take place this year in Tehran. |