Around 5:00 pm, Wednesday, some 1,000 students of Mashad University took part in a meeting in the city's Avicenna Hall to mark the anniversary of last year's bloody suppression of the uprising by students and people in different Iranian cities.
To prevent any demonstrations or protests, the clerical regime had brought many buses with large groups of suppressive forces in streets around the University.
Colonel Lotfi, the head of the province's Crime Investigaiton Department, Nasser Najjaran, the State Security Forces commander in Mashad and Guards Corps Col. Gonabadi, the special anti-riot forces commander, were present on the scene. Heavily armed anti-riot units, equipped with helmets, truncheons and armored cars had been brought it to intimidate the students. A number of Intelligence Ministry vehicles were parked in front of the hall and intelligence officers were trying to identify and film the students.
Despite all these measures, once the meeting ended, the students staged a protest march toward the city's Taqi-Abad square. As they approached the square, Revolutionary Guards affiliates known as Ansar-e Hezbollah, attacked the students with clubs and truncheons and beat them up brutally.
Simultaneously, intelligence agents detained the students and took them to prison in a number of brown-colored vehicles belonging to the local intelligence department.
Dozens of students were injured or wounded during the clashes. Two of them are in critical condition.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
July 7, 2000
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