A student at Amir Kabir University in Tehran holds up a piece of paper during a visit by President Ahmadinejad that says: “Fascist president, the Polytechnic is not your place”
“Death to the Dictator”

In December, Ahmadinejad addressed students at Amir Kabir University in Tehran, where he was confronted by angry protests.

Although the hall where he gave his televised speech was largely packed-out with the government’s Basij faithful, there was a group of students at the back of the hall who burned pictures of Ahmadinejad and chanted “death to the dictator”.

Pro-government media has tried to say that the dissenting group was a tiny minority of the student body. However, in a repressive state where the price of protest is high, such demonstrations are taken seriously by everyone.

I like the way Ahmadinejad’s response was similar to what Blair says every time he’s confronted with a protest:

“I am not surprised, because there is such a free atmosphere in the university environment that these incidents can happen.”

As the students later wrote in an open letter, December 12 2006 will be remembered as “a day in which the university loudly proclaimed that it was alive”