Over 30 Iranian student organizations outside Iran issued a statement to mark the anniversary of July 9 student protests in 1999 and to celebrate the opportunity granted by “the Green Movement of the people of Iran” for a new generation of students to organize outside Iran.
In an announcement, they state: “The Iranian student movement all across the globe with complete consideration for all the political and social divisions active in Iranian society, will continue its “peaceful, persistent and non-violent struggle for the realization of democracy."
The statement urged all Green Movement activists to heed the Iranian government’s short and long term plans to “dominate of the academic community,” and called on all of them to "guard the institutions of higher education as a fundamental pillar of the plural civil society.”
They condemn the government attacks against students on July 9 of 1999 which led to several deaths and grave injuries and maintain that lack of reaction to the oppression of 1999 created a solid ground for the second attack of the security forces at Tehran University dorm, ten years later, on June 15 of 2009.
“After eleven years we are now witness to the reality that the demand of the protesting students in 1999 for a pluralistic civil society and their resistance against totalitarian powers has become the general demands of the people of Iran and the approach of Green Movement activists.”
Video clip of July 9 protests in front of Iran's Ministry of Interior:
In June of last year, in the course of protests against vote fraud in the presidential elections, security forces and pro-government forces in plain clothes swarmed Tehran University dorm and attacked the students causing the deaths of at least five students.
The anniversary of the 1999 uprising and subsequent government crackdown has been marked by numerous writings and analyses of the events of the time and two new video clips of the protests of that time have also surfaced showing angry protesters pulling out the door of the Ministry of Interior in Tehran.
Along with protests in various countries of the world, Iranians in the Netherlands also staged demonstrations in The Hague. The protesters expressed grave concern over the continued violence being exercised by the Islamic Republic against the opposition and read aloud a letter from detained student activist, Majid Tavakoli, written on the occasion of July 9 anniversary.
On July 9, 1999, Iranian students protested the banning of the reformist newspaper, Salaam which led to security and plain clothes forces attacking the students at Tehran University dorm causing deaths and injuries.
