{"id":346414,"date":"2026-07-06T19:30:32","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T18:30:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=346414"},"modified":"2026-07-06T19:30:32","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T18:30:32","slug":"from-down-with-the-dictator-to-khameneis-funeral-spectacle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/iran-protests\/from-down-with-the-dictator-to-khameneis-funeral-spectacle\/","title":{"rendered":"From \u201cDown with the Dictator\u201d to Khamenei\u2019s Funeral Spectacle\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Students
Students and protesters gather at the university gates during the intense demonstrations of the July 1999 student uprising in Tehran<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Three-minute read<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The 1999 uprising ignited on July 9, when students at the University of Tehran gathered to protest the judiciary’s closure of the newspaper\u00a0<\/span>Salam<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0What began as a campus sit-in demanding press freedom quickly expanded into a nationwide uprising. Tens of thousands poured into the streets, shaking the clerical dictatorship to its core. The regime responded with brutal force: plainclothes vigilantes<\/a> and riot police stormed the dormitories at dawn, beating students in their beds and hurling some from third- and fourth-floor windows. By the time the blood dried, the chants had radicalized from appeals for a free press into a phrase that has echoed through every Iranian uprising since: “Down with the dictator.”<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This episode serves as a recurring diagnostic, exposing two truths about the regime that remain perfectly intact twenty-seven years later: first, when forced to choose between genuine change and regime survival, every figure inside the system will choose the system; second, the people know it.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Unmasking<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

Consider the\u00a0officials\u00a0the 1999 crackdown revealed. Mohammad Khatami<\/a> was then president, having campaigned on an empty promise of \u201ccivil society.\u201d Yet Khatami sat on the Supreme National Security Council that authorized the raid, seamlessly aligning with the Supreme Leader to crush the protests. His presidency\u00a0limped on\u00a0for six more years, producing no structural reform, because the crackdown had already\u00a0disclosed\u00a0the operating principle: the system’s survival is the absolute ceiling above every regime insider.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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#Iran<\/a> News in Brief
Sep 19- #IranProtests<\/a> reported in several universities in #Tehran<\/a>. Students chanted "Death to the dictator" and "Death to the Basij". Clashes erupted in Amir Kabir Uni when the paramilitary Basij attacked peaceful protesters. Videos in: https:\/\/t.co\/gxewVeZnJT<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/Zobx3MTGGE<\/a><\/p>\n

— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) September 19, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n