Josh Shahryar brings us the latest news about ongoing protests in and around Tehran and Sharif universities:

For the third day students in Tehran University and Sharif Industrial University of Tehran protested against the government. News reports of the protests were scarce on pro-reform websites, however, ironically, it was the other side that gave it away.

Hundreds – perhaps close to a thousand – students protested outside Tehran University, but were reportedly not attacked by security forces that were present in the hundreds. No video of the event emerged. However, there were videos to prove the protest in Sharif Industrial University.

There, the protesters mostly gathered near the gates and about a hundred also gathered inside a hall in the university. Numbers were lower than at Tehran University, but the anger was quite evident. Both at Sharif and Tehran universities, students loudly chanted against Ahmadinejad and Basijis.

But the main chants were demanding the release of students who were arrested two days ago from universities across the country. At the gates of Sharif University, students also sang Yaare Dabestani loudly – a patriotic song often used by reformists to evoke emotion. No report of protests from outside Tehran surfaced.

As mentioned before, news was scarce to come. But government-run news agency Fars News inadvertently became a witness to the events and published them on their website. However, both stories were quickly removed after the buzz on twitter.

Videos from Sharif University:

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EA correspondent Mr Smith explores the meaning behind yesterday’s protests, and looks ahead to the next wave of demonstrations:

In Iran’s never ending calendar of public events and commemorations, 16 Azar, or National Student’s Day, could hardly have passed without a serious confrontation erupting between the Ahmadinejad regime and the student population of Iran. Protests against Ahmadinejad on 7 December preceded by almost three years the electoral drama of June. In 2006, the president made an ill-fated trip to the Polytechnic, only to be shouted down by students chanting one of the symbolic slogans of today – Marg bar Diktator, or “Death to the Dictator”.

The Latest from Iran (8 December): The Half-Full Victory?

The students were therefore motivated and cohesive in their turn-out yesterday. Brazenly defying the heightened security atmosphere, which led to yet another round of arrests amongst activists in the past few weeks and the presence of heavy-handed security forces over all central Tehran yesterday, tens of thousands of students took control of prestigious campuses such as the Polytechnic, University of Tehran, Sharif and Ahmadinejad’s own alma mater, Science and Technology University. Indeed, their presence was so overwhelming that the security forces tactfully remained on the sidelines, conducting arrests just outside university perimeters and harrassing ordinary people who attempted to join the protestors within campuses. It was therefore a manifestation of the character and resilience of the opposition, which is now capable of organising spontaneous large scale demonstration through the mobilisation of only part of its forces (students in this case), and does not even consult with the leadership nor require them to be on the streets. In this sense, the potential of the Green wave of today is higher than the gigantic crowds that drove the Shah from power at the end of 1978, which crucially relied upon a highly organised and effectively clerical-secular leadership.
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We’ve been discussing the possibility of protests in Iran moving away from large, highly visible demonstrations towards smaller, more subtle disobedience. Could this be an example?

On Friday, April 17, an Israeli soldier fired a high-velocity tear gas canister at short range towards demonstrators on the West Bank. The canister, which is only supposed to be fired from distance, hit 30-year-old Basim Abu Rahmah in the head. He was killed instantly.

If you are wondering how Israeli soldiers could be unconcerned — not careless but unconcerned — with the possible consequences of firing upon against innocent people who were protesting the wall that separated their village, Bilin, from the rest of the West Bank, please watch the video below (caution: there are disturbing scenes)

No rational individual should endorse any anti-Semitic statement or action. However, no rational individual should endorse a mentality that hides behind pretexts to justify the killing of an unarmed man protesting against ‘injustice’ in a non-violent demonstration.

Warner Todd Huston, RedState.com, 16 April 2009: “It may seem ominous, but violence is sometimes acceptable depending on the cause.”

Well, it’s been a lot of fun with the Tea Parties this week. The too-blatant manipulation, by certain political groups and media outlets, of a “revolution” was well-suited to parody, even beyond the unfortunate double entendre of the protest’s chosen beverage.

Today, however, the fun gives way.
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A British citizen Jalal Ahmed, who was working as baggage handler at Luton Airport, took part in a demonstration against the war on Iraq on Tuesday. During the Royal Anglian Regiment’s homecoming parade, he was brandishing a sign saying “Anglian Soldiers: Butchers of Basra.”

Two days after the demonstration, his employer, Menzies Aviation, stated that they had revoked his airside pass, and he could not work with them until a full investigation was complete.

Some argue that the decision was correct , as a person with extremist views should not be working as an employee loading luggage onto conveyor belts into aircraft holds. Others insist that anyone who takes part in a non-violent demonstration cannot be treated as a potential terrorist without any proof, even though the decision taken might produce temporary consequences.

What are you thinking about this situation? Do you consider the situation as a deadlock or is there an answer to the problem?

What if Jalal Ahmed decides to cooperate with terrorists and helped them pass the bomb in a luggage into a plane? Do you think that most people will feel much safer if we can employ someone else who has not participated in any kind of demonstration?

On the other hand, what if life became unbearable for Ahmed in his country?  How “safe” is Jalal Ahmed if he loses his job without any proof linking his non-violent demonstration with an illegal organization?

I am an advocate of Jalal Ahmed’s actions, simply posing questions. Are we going to deprive a human being of his livelihood, even as he is innocent of any specific crime, and maintain the presumpton that a protestor is more likely to be manipulated by terrorists rather than, say, an employee who has not participated in a demonstration?

Guardian Education reports protests at eight English universities including Birmingham. A week-long occupation at LSE ended peacefully last night after the school’s director Howard Davies issued a joint statement with students which included a pledge to back a fundraising drive for Palestinian scholarships, as well as the setting up of, “a working party to look at socially responsible investments that will be “content to receive” proposals about disinvestment from companies implicated in the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.”

Before we close the door on the Bush Presidency….

For political reasons, there will be no enquiry into the illegal actions of the Bush Administration, let alone an attempt to hold its officials accountable before a criminal court. That makes it even more important that the public investigation — first as a study of current politics and US foreign policy, later as history — of how the Executive could bypass Congress, the US courts, and international law to sanction torture should be thorough, ongoing, and unrelenting.

Keith Olbermann, in his provocative and incisive manner, offers a summary: “Mr President-Elect, you have been handed the beginning of [our] future, use it to protect our children and our distant descendants from anything like this ever happening again.”