Protests in Iran are showing no sign of letting up, with high-schoolers joining university students across the country in demanding regime change.

Their calls come despite authorities¡¯ extreme measures to prevent mounting opposition.

On 2 October, state security forces peaceful protesters at Sharif University, reportedly firing shotgun pellets and tear gas at students, according to local .

Since the death of Mahsa Amini, an Iranian woman who died in custody more than two weeks ago for failing to comply with the regime¡¯s dress code for women, dozens of students have been , according to human rights groups.

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Recent days have seen an escalation of protests, with many based out of university campuses ¨C historic hotbeds for Iran¡¯s revolutionary movement and more recent political opposition.

On 4 October, students at Mashhad University to change the country¡¯s leadership.

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¡°This isn¡¯t a protest any more ¨C it¡¯s the start of a revolution,¡± they .

¡°We¡¯re all Mahsas! Fight us and we¡¯ll fight back,¡± cried protesters at Allameh Tabataba¡¯i University in Tehran .

Recently, female high school pupils in civil disobedience, with photos appearing to show them posing in front of a chalkboard wearing their hair loose and eschewing the regime¡¯s required hijab.

Jason Brodsky, policy director of United Against Nuclear Iran, a US-based non-profit organisation, told Times Higher Education that the opposition was gathering momentum.

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¡°These protests are not going away,¡± he said. ¡°Iran¡¯s security apparatus will try to repress with all its might, but it cannot wipe out the underlying sentiment.

¡°Iran¡¯s Generation Z is fed up ¨C with oppression, denial of opportunity, economic stagnation, and not being able to live a normal life under the Khamenei revolutionary autocracy.¡±

While Iran¡¯s president recently put on a confident facade, saying that Iran has been successful at thwarting past uprisings, there are signs the country¡¯s leaders are beginning to show concern, he said.

¡°The response from Iran¡¯s speaker of parliament a few days ago was telling ¨C he is eyeing these protests warily, acknowledging in public that the protesters want regime change, not reform. He was also pleading with them not to destabilise the country,¡± said Mr Brodsky.

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While he said there were ¡°formidable obstacles¡± to any referendum under Iran¡¯s current constitutional system, in which two-thirds of a parliament comprising ¡°vetted legislators and trusted disciples of Iran¡¯s supreme leader¡± would need to vote for a change, it¡¯s clear Iran¡¯s people are demanding change.

¡°The protesters are clearly showcasing the system is unreformable; they do not trust the Iranian leadership, and want to take power into their own hands,¡± he said.

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pola.lem@timeshighereducation.com