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There is a new war going on in Iran, between the administration and students of Shiraz University (Balatarin). More than two thousand students in University of Shiraz gathered on the campus and refused to attend their classes (link). When the dean of the university tried to talk to them they interrupted him by chanting “liar! liar! resign! resign!” Other sentences they shouted were “this is not a barrack” and “shame on you”.

The protest started after a newly announced law tried to regulate the conduct of the students in the dormitory. The new law forbids the students from wearing shorts and pajamas in the halls. It also forbids students from bringing guests to the dormitory and gives the security the right to enter dormitory rooms without permission. According to the students, there has been one incident in which a security personnel entered a room and woke everybody up to ask them for their IDs. He has reportedly shouted “we have a terrorist here” (link). According to the new law, doors of the dormitory will be closed from 23pm to 5am (link).

The university insists that the law has been in effect since a a long time ago. “It is only announced again”, said Dr Sadeghi, the dean (link). The administration has also expressed preparedness to revise the law according to the demands of the students.

The story had a happy ending, when yesterday afternoon, at 4pm, dean told to the students “if you find this law offensive, I apologize”. Then, the students told him that they have not had launch and asked the dean to have dinner with them. He accepted (link). He also stated “we respect privacy of people”.

Can you imagine an old dad who has been so cruel to his children when he was young? That’s the Islamic Republic. The administration has so many problems to deal with and everyone remembers a reason to avenge for. At least that is my understanding of this Pajamas War.

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Demands of the students: 24-hour Khwarizmi [probably the name of a library on campus], non-filtered Internet, free student press, improvement on the food services, service 4 [probably a campus shuttle] to be changed, freedom for extra curriculum activities. [Thanks to JE for correcting my mistake]