TEHRAN, Iran _ More than 50 people were arrested in Iran's holy city of Mashhad, following anti-government protests over the economy and rising food prices, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Friday.
Videos purporting to be of the protests in Iran's second-largest city circulated widely on social media platforms including Twitter and Telegram, and showed protesters chanting against President Hassan Rouhani and calling for "the economically corrupt" to be executed.
The arrests were for "demolishing public property and lacking a permit for the protests," Mashhad's deputy attorney general, Hassan Heydari, told Tasnim.
Rouhani's government has faced criticism since his May re-election from both hardline opponents and disillusioned supporters, who had been expecting a broader economic recovery following the country's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers and easing of international sanctions. Households have been strained by rising prices of some key goods, while instability among unregulated lenders has also triggered unrest over the past six months.
Several provinces this week reported the price of eggs had risen by up to 50 percent, according to the semi-official Iranian Students News Agency. The price hike was caused by an outbreak of avian influenza at battery farms, Iran's government spokesman, Mohammad-Bagher Nobakht, told reporters on Wednesday, according to Tasnim.
Rouhani's first vice president, Eshaq Jahangiri, dismissed the demonstrations in a speech on Friday, and said economic issues were "being used as an excuse and something else, behind the curtain, is going on," the Iranian Students News Agency reported.
In Mashhad, Ayatollah Ahmad Alamolhoda, the leader of Friday prayers who is seen as a close ally of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned that protesters shouldn't allow their concerns "to become fodder for the foreign media, which wants to sow sedition." A day earlier, he said people had a right to be unhappy with the economic situation.
A clip circulating on unofficial Telegram channels purportedly from Nishapur, close to Mashhad, showed protesters chanting "leave Syria alone, think about us." Commentators saw it as a referring to Iran's economic and military support for Syrian President Bashar Assad.
