A new wave of popular discontent is growing in Iran, with college students holding antigovernment rallies on campuses and grieving families using mourning ceremonies to air their opposition to the Islamic Republic.
Fueling the popular anger is the government’s bloody crackdown of last month’s protests, during which thousands of people were killed, many of them young. The repression had a chilling effect on the demonstrations, but also gave Iranians another reason to oppose their theocratic rulers.
Students at several universities gathered in large numbers Saturday—the first day of a new academic term—chanting slogans commemorating those who were killed and condemning security forces, according to videos verified by Storyful, which is owned by News Corp, parent company of The Wall Street Journal.
The student protests represent the most significant show of public defiance against the Islamic Republic since the mass protests were brutally crushed in January.
At Amirkabir University of Technology in Tehran, students dressed in black shouted “Long Live the Shah,” a reference to Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s last monarch, who has emerged as a leader of the recent protests.
A similar scene played out in another part of the city, at Sharif University of Technology, where antigovernment protesters chanted slogans against the Islamic Republic and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. That protest turned violent, with the students clashing with members of the plainclothes Basij militia outside the university campus, according to videos verified by Storyful.
At Tehran University of Medical Sciences, students held a march and a sit-in in solidarity with imprisoned students and other young detainees.
The outbreaks of public anger are growing as the possibility of war looms over the country. The U.S. is amassing jet fighters and warships in preparation for possible military strikes against Iran. President Trump said the U.S. is ready to strike should talks aimed at reaching a nuclear deal with Iran fail.
Around 7,000 people have been confirmed killed since the demonstrations began in late December over deepening economic problems, according to Human Rights Activists in Iran, a U.S.-based rights group. More than 50,000 people have been arrested over the same period, the group said.
Iranian officials have said around 3,000 people had died but blamed the deaths on what they called rioters and terrorists.
Iranians are showing their opposition to their rulers in a variety of ways despite the continuing crackdown. Many are shouting “Death to Khamenei” and “Death to the Child-Killer Republic” at sundown from their balconies, chanting that sometimes takes over entire neighborhoods.
Mourning ceremonies—traditionally solemn events held 40 days after someone’s death—have become occasions for Iranians to celebrate the sacrifice of their loved ones and reject the Islamic Republic.
In a new form of protest, many Iranians are dancing, singing and clapping around the graves of slain protesters—in contrast to the traditional, more somber religious ceremonies. Sometimes the ceremonies turn explicitly political, with mourners chanting “Death to Khamenei.”
In Lafmejan, a village in the northwestern province of Gilan, a large crowd gathered outside a mosque for the 40-day mourning ceremony in honor of a young protester. “If one person is killed, a thousand stand behind him,” they chanted, according to a video verified by Storyful.
High-school students have also shown their opposition to the government. Many students and teachers in cities including Tehran, Gorgan and Bandar Abbas stayed home earlier this week in protest, according to the Coordinating Council of Iranian Teachers’ Trade Associations, a labor union that is often critical of the government, and that called the strike.
The purpose of the school strike, which they called “Empty Desks,” was to “keep alive the names and memories of hundreds of murdered students and dozens of murdered teachers,” it said.
Write to Margherita Stancati at margherita.stancati@wsj.com