Protests sign of sea change, Mousavi says

TEHRAN, Dec. 7 (UPI) -- The strength of the student-supported opposition movement in Iran is a sign of the shifting national mood, said Reformist leader Mir Hossein Mousavi.

Iranian police clashed with student protesters at Tehran University on Monday as demonstrators took advantage of National Student's Day to voice their displeasure with the clerical regime.

Student leaders last week called on the opposition leaders to renew their pledge to stand up to the despotic regime in Tehran. Unverified reports and amateur video posted on the Internet show students chanting anti-clerical slogans during clashes Monday.

Iranian opposition leader Mousavi in statements published on his Facebook page said the resiliency of the student movement suggested there was a sea change emerging in Iran.

"Student movements are signs of realities greater than themselves," he writes. "Our society is now experiencing the strangest changes."

Mousavi and his fellow Reformist counterparts led a so-called Green Revolution in Iran that challenged the victory of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the June presidential elections.

Protests in the wake of the June election were among the most violent since the Iranian Revolution in 1979. Despite a crackdown on dissent, opposition supporters have exploited national holidays to protest the government.