Student Uprising of 18 Tir

Culture of origin: Iranian · Historical

Holiday sources: Iran

On 8 July 1999 Tehran University students protested peacefully against the closure of the reformist newspaper Salam. That night about 400 plainclothes paramilitaries, thought to be Ansar-e Hezbollah and the Basij, raided a dormitory, beating students, setting rooms on fire and throwing some from balconies; at least one student was killed. Six days of protest followed across the country, in which at least three more people were killed (student groups and the foreign press counted more than 17 dead); more than seventy students disappeared and 1,200–1,400 people were detained.