31 December 2017•Update: 01 January 2018
By Narges Rezai and Mustafa Melih Ahishali
ISTANBUL
A total of 200 anti-government protesters were arrested in the Iranian capital, Tehran, during Saturday’s demonstrations, according to the Iranian Labour News Agency (ILNA).
Some of the protesters were later released, Tehran province Deputy Governor Ali Asghar Naserbakht told ILNA.
Forty others who are thought to have led the demonstrations under custody, Naserbakht added.
Also, Tehran’s Head Prosecutor Abbas Dolatabadi claimed that a group among the protesters caused harm to a mosque, a petrol office, state institutions and public property.
Thousands of Iranians on Thursday hit the streets in the northeastern cities of Mashhad and Kashmar to protest rising commodity prices and perceived government mismanagement, according to local media reports.
On Saturday, thousands of people again took to the streets across Iran in a show of support for the regime.
According to local media reports, government supporters in major cities, including capital Tehran called on the regime to comply with the economic recommendations of the country’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenei.
Speaking at a ceremony in the Grand Musalla Mosque in Tehran, Mahmoud Araki, a member of the Experts Assembly of Khamenei, said Iran was in an economic war with the West and the government of Hassan Rouhani should apply Khamenei's "Resistance Economy" program with greater determination.
Similar calls also came from pro-government rallies in Iran’s second-largest city of Mashhad, which was the center of anti-government protests.
Footage on local media showed that attendance at rallies in Tehran, Mashhad and elsewhere to mark the anniversary of the end of "the sedition" -- the last major unrest that followed disputed elections in 2009 -- was well below expectations.
