Tehran police warns against gatheirngs on December 7

Tehran’s Security Forces have issued a public statement to the effect that police will not tolerate any “illegal” gatherings on December 7, the National Students Day.

In Iran the National Students Day is annually observed with numerous student gatherings in universities.

The police have announced that the National Students Day events will only be held in the universities with a valid permission of the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology. Gathering anywhere else in the city will be confronted severely, according to Tehran Police.

In the past six months, protesters to the alleged fraudulent victory of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have taken advantage of national days of ceremony to take to the streets and renew their protest to Ahmadinejad government.

Last week, over three thousand students signed a petition to invite the disputing candidates of the June elections, Mehdi Karroubi and MirHosein Mousavi to join the December 7 ceremonies in Tehran University.

Student organizations have also called on the public to join the ceremonies on this day. Flyers have been going around urging people to get on their roofs and shout: Allah-o-akbar!” on the night of December 7, another form of anti-government protest.

In the past weeks, numerous university students have been arrested or suspended from university to prevent protesters from rallying around the student ceremonies of December 7. International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran reports that in the past three weeks over 90 students have been arrested by government security forces.