Some 450 people have been arrested in the Iranian capital over the past three days during unrest linked to protests, an official told local media on Tuesday.
“200 people were arrested on Saturday, 150 on Sunday and around 100 on Monday,” Ali-Asghar Naserbakht, a deputy in the Tehran city governor's office, told the reformist-linked ILNA news agency.
Protests have been relatively small in Tehran compared with many parts of the country since the unrest began last Thursday.
“We feel the situation in Tehran is more calm than previous days. Already yesterday, it was calmer than before,” said Naserbakht.
He added that no request had yet been put to the Revolutionary Guards to intervene in the capital.
“We will not permit insecurity to continue in any way in Tehran. If it continues, officials will take decisions to finish it,” said Esmail Kowsari, a deputy commander for a local branch of the Revolutionary Guards, on state television.
There was a heavy police presence in Tehran as small groups of protesters ran through the capital shouting anti-government slogans.
It followed the deadliest night yet on Sunday when 13 people died in the violence.
The death toll linked to the protests currently stands at 16.
Rising living costs
After initial silence, state media began showing some footage of the demonstrations on Sunday, focusing on young men attacking banks and vehicles, an attack on a town hall in Tehran and images of a man burning the Iranian flag.
Rouhani came to power in 2013 promising to mend the economy and ease social tensions, but high living costs and a 12 per cent unemployment rate have left many feeling that progress is too slow.
“We have no problem bigger than unemployment. Our economy needs an operation. We must all stand together,” Rouhani acknowledged on Monday.
The authorities have blamed external forces for fomenting violence, saying the majority of social media reports were emanating from Saudi Arabia or exile groups based in Europe.Iranian police arrested 100 protesters in the capital on Monday, the deputy governor of Tehran said, as a police crackdown intensified against anti-government demonstrations that began last week.
Security forces have struggled to contain protests that broke out last Thursday and have continued nationwide in the boldest challenge in years to the country’s clerical leadership.
The unrest is the worst since crowds took to the streets in 2009 to condemn the re-election of then-president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. One member of the security forces was reported killed on Monday.
“200 people were arrested on Saturday, 150 people on Sunday and around 100 people on Monday,” Ali Asghar Naserbakht, deputy governor of Tehran province, was quoted as saying by semi-official ILNA news agency on Tuesday.
Hundreds of others have been arrested in other cities.
He said the situation in Tehran was under control and the police has not asked for the help of the Revolutionary Guards special forces.
Mehr news agency also quoted a judiciary official as saying that several ringleaders of protests in Karaj, the fourth largest city in Iran, have been arrested.
Videos on social media on Monday showed an intense clash in the central town of Qahderijan between security forces and protesters who were trying to occupy a police station, which was partially set ablaze.
There were unconfirmed reports of several casualties among demonstrators.
The government said it was temporarily restricting access to the Telegram messaging app and Instagram. There were reports that internet mobile access was blocked in some areas.
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