16 Azar marks the anniversary of the 1953 killing of three students (Qandchi, Bozorgnia and Razavi) at the University of Tehran campus during the visit to the city by then-Vice President Richard Nixon. The occasion had been observed annually by the student opposition to the shah, and since 1990s by the opponents of the Islamic Republic leadership. Social and political freedoms have been the rallying cry of 16-Azar demonstrations.
On Sunday night in Tehran, protestors shouted “Allahu Akbar” and “Death to the Dictator” from the rooftops in spite of pouring rain. Nationwide demonstrations are expected to take place on or near university campuses on Monday, the 56th anniversary of 16 Azar.
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Illustrating the deep fissures among the post-revolutionary establishment, today Faezeh Rafsanjani, one of the daughters of two-time former president and the present head of the Assembly of Experts and the Expediency Council, Akbar Rafsanjani, joined the pro-democracy protesters in one of the facilities of the Islamic Azad University:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0YzIgZurWo
Students can be heard thanking her.
Her father and brother were extensively slandered by Ahmadinejad during pre-election debates and she too was briefly arrested in an earlier protest.
The video is dated 16 Azar (December 7), which is the 'Students Day' in Iran.
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