Iranian students gathered for a second day of competing pro- and anti-government rallies on Sunday commemorating people killed in recent protests that sent shockwaves through the country.
Students had also rallied on Saturday at the start of the new university semester to mark the 40th day since the deaths at the peak of the protests on January 8 and 9, in line with Shiite mourning tradition, according to videos shared by local and diaspora media.
On Sunday, the Fars news agency published videos of fresh crowds of dozens of people waving Iranian flags and carrying memorial photographs at universities in the capital Tehran.
One showed a rowdy gathering at Sharif University of Technology shouting "death to the shah" -- a reference to the monarchy ousted by the 1979 Islamic revolution -- as they faced off with another group, with men in uniforms between them.
Fars said there had been "tensions" at at least three universities in Tehran where some students chanted "anti-establishment" slogans.
It said that at Sharif University, a top engineering institution, two students waved green-white-and-red flags with a lion and a sun -- the emblem of the toppled monarchy.
Iran International, a media outlet based outside the country and branded a "terrorist" organisation by Tehran, shared a video on social media of students holding up the flag at Sharif University, as well as videos of rallies at other institutions of higher learning.
A video geolocated by AFP of what appeared to be the same demonstration at Sharif University showed a large crowd around the flag-waving students chanting "long live the shah" and other anti-government slogans.
The demonstrations sparked in December by economic hardship in the sanctions-hit country expanded into mass anti-government protests marked by chants criticising the clerical leadership and supporting the return of the ousted Pahlavi royals.
Videos geolocated by AFP on Saturday showed fights breaking out at one rally, with other clips of scuffles also circulating on Sunday.
The authorities acknowledge more than 3,000 deaths in the unrest, including members of the security forces and bystanders, but say the violence was caused by "terrorist acts" fuelled by Iran's enemies.
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), however, has recorded more than 7,000 killings in the crackdown, the vast majority protesters, though the toll may be far higher.
© Agence France-Presse
