Disruption of the Ukrainian plane memorial ceremony at the University of Tehran
The Islamic Association of Students of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Tehran wrote in a statement that on January 8, 2023, the anniversary of the shooting of the Ukrainian plane, a group of students from the University of Tehran gathered at the College of Fine Arts to commemorate the victims of November 2019, the victims of the Ukrainian plane, the victims of the Woman, Life, Freedom movement, and recent executions. They gathered to honor these individuals and to reiterate their demands, declaring that they will never abandon the path to freedom.
In part of this student union’s statement, it is claimed that during the ceremony, students were surrounded by security officers, and suddenly the security members attacked the gathering place, destroyed the elements that were there, and continued to attack the students, using violent confrontations, threats, and insults to try to disperse the students.
The statement further claims that the security forces, with their violent actions, were trying to create tension to find an excuse for a harsher crackdown. It states that the students, aware of this scenario, did not engage with the security forces and tried to continue their program. However, the security forces attacked the students, beating several of them, and threatened to identify them. During this attack, several students were arrested by security and taken to the security booth, and one student’s ID card was confiscated.