40 people arrested after clashes with police over hike in petrol prices in Iran

Forty people have been arrested in the central Iranian city of Yazd after clashes with police over hike in petrol prices.

Semi-official ISNA news agency yesterday quoted the province's public prosecutor Mohammad Hadadzadeh, saying that those detained were disruptors accused of carrying out acts of vandalism and most of them were not locals.

Protests flared across Iran on Friday hours after it was announced the price of petrol would



be increased by 50 per cent for the first 60 litres and 300 per cent for anything above that each month. 

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has backed the government's decision to increase the prices. The country's state television reported Khamenei saying that those setting fire to public property during protests are backed by counter-revolutionaries and the enemies of Iran.