Demonstrations continued on Saturday, following the fatal robbery of 19-year-old Amir Mohammad Khaleghi, a business student at Tehran University.

Khaleghi was killed Wednesday during a robbery near a campus dormitory, prompting Friday’s protests. 

Students accused university officials of neglecting campus safety, according to local reports. 

On Friday, protesters clashed with police near the scene of the crime outside a university dormitory where Khaleghi was attacked by two unidentified assailants. 

He succumbed to his injuries at a hospital.  

Protesters chanted slogans including “Shame on you!,” “University security is a tool of the IRGC [Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps], you are our murderers!”, and “The blood that has been spilled can never be erased!”

Following the public outcry, Iranian Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref ordered an immediate investigation into Khaleghi’s death. 

Iran’s Minister of Science, Research, and Technology, Hossein Sarraf, warned protesters that “university issues must not extend beyond campus. Those who enter unlawfully will face severe consequences, and there will be no leniency in this matter,” as reported by the state-run ISNA news agency. 

While the protest wasn’t politically motivated, demonstrations in Iran can sometimes escalate into political unrest.

Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), tweeted on Friday: “Salutes to the students of the University of Tehran who, in protest against the brutal murder of one of their peers, raised their voices with the powerful chant, ‘A student dies, but does not accept humiliation.’”

She continued, “The perpetrators of this insecurity are either the Revolutionary Guards and suppressive forces themselves, or the result of the regime’s anti-people policies, which prioritize maintaining its power through the harshest oppression, with no regard for the safety or welfare of the people. I call on my fellow citizens to stand in solidarity with the students who today have declared that silence is no longer an option. Indeed, the university is the fortress of freedom and must fulfill its historic role.”

University protests erupted three years ago following the death of a 22-year-old woman in custody for allegedly violating the headscarf law. 

Those protests lasted for months, concluding only after a severe security crackdown that resulted in 500 deaths and over 22,000 arrests.