Iran's 16 Azar: Eyewitness Summaries from Tehran

This in at 0215 GMT (0545 in Iran) from an EA source who was talking with contacts in Iran throughout 16 Azar:

Around midnight [at the start of 16 Azar, 7 December], a large contingency of the government’s forces were stationed in different areas, especially in central Tehran and particularly in the vicinity of different universities and colleges.

The protest areas have seen the strong presence of government forces from the early morning hours.The police and plain-clothes officers were concentrated around the Fatemi, Karagar and Enghelab streets:
The police are scattered from Ferdowsi Square to Enghelab Square, especially surrounding Tehran University, and from Tohid intersection to Sharif University. These groups are highly equipped with various weapons and have given the Enghelab and Azadi streets a military base-like appearance. This is why though a high number of people was expected not that many came.



Some people went toward Sharrif University but because of the high number of anti riot police that had surrounded the university they left the place. You could see high number of anti riot police in the city.
Tehran University is completely surrounded, with over 1,000 (and growing) officers of the anti-riot police and revolutionary guards stationed there. They have closed down the pedestrian walkways across Tehran University with metal fences to prevent movements in and out of the university. They initially placed three buses in front of the university’s entrance in order to block people's view of inside the campus, and later replaced the buses with a long and extended white scroll containing writings related to Eid-e Ghadir [this week's ceremony of the first Imam, Imam Ali]. Their objective in placing this scroll is to block the public’s view of the students' protests inside the university.

Students were locked inside the universities and around Amir-Kabir University. There have been clashes between people and the security guards,they had tried to get rid of people. There were a high number of security guards around all the universities whom did not allow any one to enter nor exit the university gates. Consequently students did ask people to join them.

Mobile phones are out of service and impossible to reach around the vicinity of Tehran University.
The number of students was increasing every minute. There were a great number of plainclothes officers present at this rally. Through raising their hands and giving the victory sign, and by presenting the symbols of the green movement, the students are circulating in and around the university.

The chants are "Down with the Demagogues", "Mahmoud the traitor, You have destroyed us and the soil of this country, You have killed the country's youth, God is Great, God is Great…"

There are clashes between students and guards standing outside of the university at Vali-Asr. Some photographers and cameraman are taking pictures and filming in order to identify the students. According to the news, there are buses parked at the Somaie ST. to transfer the arrested students.

There is an organized group of police moving towards the Vali-asr gate. This group includes plain-clothes officers and a small number of university Basij and has clashed with green students.

More than 50 police forces have surrounded uni preventing parking cars near uni walls. The main gate to Tehran University has been closed off. Students can use other entrances only by presenting their Tehran University ID.

From the other side at University of Tehran, police had started to hit people and try to stop them from gathering at one place. While they were waiting to find out where they have to go, the Police attacked people again and as a result they started to run and they got on a bus. Meanwhile the guards saw my friend who was recording on his self phone got on the bus and so they tried to stop the bus but my friend and his companions managed to get away. On their way they shouted slogans from the bus. As they were stuck in traffic, one of the guards threw two tear gas tins inside the bus. One hit the back of my friend’s neck, another one hit someone's arm inside the bus. They tried to pull the injured passenger out and force the driver to stop the bus but once again the driver ignored them and carry on driving. A few station away from their destination, my friend and his companions had to get off due to the amount of gas inside the bus.

There are clashes between students and guards standing outside of the university at Vali-Asr. Some photographers and cameraman are taking pictures and filming in order to identify the students. According to the news, there are buses parked at the Somaie Park ST. to transfer the arrested students.

After closing down some of the streets in central Tehran, anti-riot police have attempted to fire tear gas towards the demonstrators, turning the area into a site of clashes between police and protestors
The areas surrounding the universities are heavily concentrated by security forces, and protesters are being prevented from gathering in large groups. There are reports of clashes between protesters and security forces in Enqelab Square. The atmosphere around Tehran University is extremely volatile.

In another place a men inside his car with his wife and two kids waiting behind the traffic light sticks his hand out showing a victory sign. He is dragged out of his car by the guards and bitten while his wife screaming, running after her husband who managed to save him from the guards.

Also in Shahid Beheshti University in the north of Tehran Dr ( Hamid Reza) Jalaeipour gave a speech for student day. At first, students are chanting "Imprisoned students must be released". He says "I'm a professor of sociology, and in sociology it is known that prisons are meant for people who are harming (insulting) the society, such as murders. Prisons are not the place to keep students and elites." Students then applauded him. [Editor's Note: The speech is also recorded on YouTube.]

In Amir-Kabir University an open forum event was held on the Student Movement and Democracy. In which Majid Tavakoli one of the student leaders said: "We are here to declare our outcry at all of society’s despots and dictators, with Khamenei as their leader." [Editor's Note: Tavakoli was later arrested. We'll have a separate entry on this within the hour.]

Iran's 16 Azar: A Tribute to Activism, Video, & EA's Readers (Wall Street Journal)

A big hat-tip to all our readers, who feature in an article this morning by Christopher Rhoads in The Wall Street Journal, "Activists Skirt Web Crackdown to Reach the Outside World". Rhoads notes:

The intensifying crackdown on supporters and leaders of Iran's opposition, and the banning of foreign media from covering it, hasn't prevented a flood of online information about Iranian protests from reaching the world.

Video, still images and text messages posted on Facebook, Twitter, blogs and news Web sites Monday chronicled the latest antigovernment action, held largely at Iranian universities on what has historically been a protest day, National Student Day.

Rhoads mentions the efforts of activists such as Mehdi Saharkhiz ("onlymehdi") and Nikahang Kowsar, and he cites a specific incident on how "new media" relies on readers to cover important events despite Government restrictions and the fog of quick-moving developments:

Even video can be false or deceptive. A video posted Monday morning on foreign events blog enduringamerica.com, hosted by a University of Birmingham professor, showed someone burning a poster of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country's supreme leader, before a crowd of cheering people. Several readers thought the image was suspicious, in part because it didn't show the burning poster and the crowd in the same shot.

It also didn't appear to match other video taken at the university, said Scott Lucas, a professor of foreign policy at the university who started the blog.

"We consulted several people when the doubts arose," said Mr. Lucas, who added that it is possible backers of the regime make such videos to discredit the opposition. "We pulled it after it was up for about two hours."

At the End of 16 Azar: A Musical Thought

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlXeLgfBaT4[/youtube]

Iran's 16 Azar: A Review of the Day's Events Throughout the Country

Josh Shahryar reviews the protests of 16 Azar:

7 December 2009, 16 Azar in the Persian calendar, brought fresh waves of protests across Iran. While slightly smaller than those of 4 November, the protests showed yet again that the government in Iran is facing a serious challenge from the opposition. The 7th of December, National Student Day, is traditionally a day when students gather to celebrate. The appearance today of students and opposition supporters without their leaders is a troubling sign for a regime that has already tried everything from intimidation of peaceful protesters to torture and imprisonment of reformist activists.

Because of the government ban on foreign media and severe restrictions on reformist news outlets, the flow of information was very slow compared to previous protests. However, opposition demonstrators were able to get the news out through online social media, and it gives us a fairly complete picture of what happened in Iran.

Latest Iran Video: The Marches of 16 Azar – 2nd Set (7 December)
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Protests can be confirmed to have taken place in the cities of Tehran, Shiraz, Mashhad, Kermanshah, Isfahan, Kerman, Hamedan, Arak, and Najafabad. There is also partial confirmation of protests taking place in the cities of Sanandaj and Yasuj. There was, however, no confirmation for the protests that were reported to have taken place in Tabriz, Ahvaz, and Shahre Kurd. There were also rumors of protests in other cities which included Rasht, Zahedan, Sari, Karaj, and Oromieh. No part of Iran seemed to have escaped the anger and hopes of the opposition.

Here’s an account of what happened in Tehran and some information about other cities where protests could be fully confirmed:

Tehran

In preparation for the protests, the government had already restricted Internet access across the city. Cell phone connections were jammed in the central part of the city where most previous protests had taken place. Even though protests were to start at 1500 hours Iran time, all major universities were surrounded by security forces in the early hours of morning and only students with valid identity cards were being allowed to enter the premises. There was an army of security forces in Central Tehran today. In some parts of the city, there were more security forces than protesters.

Despite this, protests started around noon in the area around Tehran University when students started to chant anti-government slogans. Chants also started in Tehran’s Sharif Industrial University, Elm o San’at University and Amir Kabir University. They were soon joined by hundreds of other Tehranis who started gathering and chanting in Enghelab Square and Vali Asr Square.

Clashes broke out when other protesters started attempting to enter Tehran University. Demonstrators chanted "Death to the Dictator", "Death to Khamenei", and "You traitor Mahmoud...you destroyed our homeland." Despite the clashes in Vali Asr and Enghelab Squares, Tehran University was the major scene of confrontation.

Riot police beat people with batons and fired tear gas indiscriminately at Enghelab and in Tehran University. People were attacked in other parts of the city as well. Reports confirm dozens injured; however, no one was reported to have been killed. By the end of the day, reports emerged that at least three dozen people and possibly many more were arrested by the security forces. There were reports of guns being fired in some parts of the city, but all shots were confirmed to have been fired in the air to scare the protesters.

The only major opposition figure that took part in the protests was former president Hashemi Rafsanjani’s daughter, Faezeh Hashemi. She joined protesters in Tehran and videos of her emerged being accompanied by other protesters. The video shows protesters accompanying Hashemi and chanting, "Thank you, thank you." There were also rumors of Mousavi’s wife Zahra Rahnavard joining the protests, but this could not be confirmed by reliable sources. [Editor's note: see our updates reporting that Rahnavard was at the Tehran University campus, where she was assauted by a group of women.]

It is fairly difficult to estimate how many people joined the protests. However, by looking at pictures and videos from different parts of the city and universities, it can be safely said that somewhere between five to ten thousand people took part in protests throughout the day. It is worth noting that there was a government-sanctioned protest in Tehran University as well and more than a thousand government supporters took part in that.

Mashhad

Several hundred students gathered in Mashhad University and chanted anti-government slogans and sang the patriotic song Yaare Dabestani. There were confirmed reports of clashes or protests outside the university.

Shiraz

Hundreds of students and ordinary Shirazis protested in Shiraz’s main university and the central part of the city as well. People were again stopped from entering the institution’s main grounds if they weren’t students. Reports of clashes from the city have been confirmed. There were also reports of arrests, but none could be verified.

Kermanshah

More than a thousand students gathered in Razi University, which is the largest institution of higher education in the city. At least 200 security forces were present around the university and prevented people from entering the premises unless they had valid student ID cards.

Hamedan

Bu-Ali Sina University was the main site of protest. Clashes here were perhaps the most violent. Reports of bloodied students being carried away from the scene of clashes were reported by multiple sources. Numbers here were also in the hundreds.

Arak, Kerman, and Najafabad

Protesters chanted in the three cities’ main universities. The protests remained largely peaceful. Not much further could be confirmed. Numbers in these cities were also comparable to Shiraz and Mashhad.

This report was compiled using information from eye-witnesses, Iranian opposition websites and media contacts outside Iran. Government-run media in Iran reported almost nothing about the protests so their view of the events is anyone’s guess.

Today at EA

Iran: Today is 16 Azar, National Students Day, and a major occasion for protest against the Ahmadinejad Government. It's going to be a very busy day for EA, as we will be updating constantly in our LiveBlog. We also have two analyses: an interim assessment of the day from Mr Smith and Josh Shahryar's preview of the marches and their significance, "Iran's Voice Will Be Heard" . A reader tells about her 16 Azar experience in A Special Letter from Inside Iran. We've got the latest videos from the day,  updated at lunchtime, and of course our news pages continue to bring you the stories as they happen.

Israel: Prime Minister Netanyahu has called for unity under his leadership.