Injuries Reported In Tehran Girls’ School Clash

Details are emerging on a violent incident at a Tehran girls’ high school where the management apparently conducted a brutal inspection of the students. One teenager was said to have been hospitalized in “very bad condition.”

Jahan Sanat newspaper quoted a local resident as saying that security agents stormed Sadr girls’ high school on October 24 after some students called their parents to tell them that the school principal “beat up and searched” girls who had cell phones with them.

When the girls’ families arrived at the school, the main gate was closed and the principal did not allow them to enter, the witness said, while “school staff broke the students' phones and called the police."

According to the Education Ministry, the school was the scene of a clash between school staff, students and parents, but denied that security forces entered the facility.

IranWire has also received information that security forces entered the school, searching and beating up students.

Videos circulating on social media showed heavily armed security forces gathering outside the facility. One clip shows them on motorbikes and firing at least one tear gas canister.

Several students were injured, ncluding a 16-year-old girl named Sana Soleimani who was transferred to Luqman hospital after her condition worsened, according to the 1500tasvir Twitter account.

The Education Ministry said several students were treated by emergency services for a drop in blood pressure.

An eyewitness was cited as saying a teenage student who was in very bad condition was put into an ambulance.

"I hope she recovers. There were no signs of injury on her, but her mouth was full of foam. Some students said she had epilepsy. The stress and anxiety of the students had increased so much that the girl who had epilepsy had a seizure."

Police said that the incident was sparked by a conflict between “thugs” that caused concern among parents and students.

“The perpetrators of the conflict were identified and arrested by the police officers,” they said, rejecting “social media rumors over the incident."

At least 234 people, including 29 children, have been killed in the brutal crackdown on the ongoing protests, according to one human rights organization. Several thousand people have been arrested.

Iranian security forces have stormed a number of schools across the country, beating and arresting students, amid a crackdown on nationwide anti-government protests. On October 14, plainclothes officers raided the Shahed Girls High School in Ardebil. Teenager Asra Panahi was beaten to death for refusing to sing “Hello Commander,” a pro-regime anthem. Several other students were also injured and arrested.