Iranian students protest compulsory hijab, university costs as campus unrest returns

Students at Tehran's Allameh Tabataba'i University protested on Monday against compulsory hijab, rising tuition fees, and poor welfare services. Basij forces gathered the students under the guise of listening but then threatened them with violence, according to student media. Similar unrest is spreading to other universities, with students at Alzahra, Lorestan, and Razi Universities also taking action.

Students at Tehran's Allameh Tabataba'i University began protesting on Monday against compulsory hijab, rising tuition fees, and a lack of welfare services. The protesters chanted 'Death to tyranny, hijab and the morality police' and 'The regime's slogan is dialogue, but their guns are aimed at us' outside the university's mosque. The Basij paramilitary gathered the students under the guise of listening to their complaints but then threatened to put them in a 'goni' (sack), widely interpreted as a threat of violence. Similar unrest is spreading: 165 students at Alzahra University were barred from campus despite incomplete disciplinary proceedings, and students at Lorestan and Razi Universities boycotted their cafeterias over increased food prices and declining quality. The president of Lorestan University attributed the rising food costs to inflation.