DUBAI (Reuters) – President Ebrahim Raisi mentioned Iran’s cities have been “protected and sound” after what he referred to as a failed try by the US to repeat the 2011 Arab uprisings within the Islamic Republic, Iranian media reported on Saturday as protests continued for a fiftieth day.

Iran’s clerical management has struggled to suppress the demonstrations which erupted in September after the loss of life of younger Kurdish Iranian lady who had been detained by morality police for flouting strict legal guidelines on girls’s gown.

A whole lot of individuals, principally protesters, have been killed based on activists in one of the crucial severe waves of unrest to comb the nation for the reason that 1979 Islamic Revolution which overthrew the U.S.-backed Shah.

As Iranian authorities marked the anniversary this week of the seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran by radical college students, President Joe Biden backed the protesters, saying: “We’re gonna free Iran. They’re gonna free themselves fairly quickly.”

College students and ladies have led lots of the present protests, with girls throwing off and burning veils in defiance of the strict gown codes and college students chanting down officers in college campuses, based on unverified video footage.

“The Individuals and different enemies sought to destabilise Iran by implementing the identical plans as in Libya and Syria, however they failed,” Raisi was quoted by Iranian information companies as telling a gaggle of scholars throughout a four-hour assembly on Friday.

A preferred rebellion in Libya led to NATO intervention in 2011 and the overthrow and killing of Libya’s chief Muammar Gaddafi by insurgent fighters. In Syria, mass demonstrations in opposition to Iran’s ally President Bashar al-Assad have been confronted with drive and the nation spiralled into battle which continues 11 years on.

In contrast, Iranian cities have been now “protected and sound”, Raisi mentioned, promising retribution for the unrest the nation had seen.

“Riots and makes an attempt to disrupt the nation are completely different from protesting. Riots and those that create insecurity have to be handled,” Raisi mentioned.

SLOGANS, CRACKDOWN

The activist HRANA information company mentioned 314 protesters had been killed within the unrest as of Friday, together with 47 minors. Some 38 members of the safety forces have been additionally killed. No less than 14,170 individuals have been arrested, together with 392 college students, in protests in 136 cities and cities, and 134 universities, it mentioned.

A few of the worst bloodshed has been in Iran’s restive southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan, the place lots of the predominantly Shi’ite Muslim nation’s Sunni minority reside.

Senior Sunni cleric Molavi Abdolhamid mentioned the robust crackdown in opposition to protesters within the southeastern metropolis of Khash on Friday was an instance of presidency discrimination in direction of the minority Baluch who reside within the impoverished area on the borders with Pakistan and Afghanistan.

“Ought to reside ammunition be the response to slogans and stone throwing? One wonders why the remedy of protesters in Sistan-Baluchistan is completely different from different areas of the nation and why protesting individuals of this province are mercilessly massacred?,” Abdolhamid mentioned in a press release on his web site.

Amnesty Worldwide mentioned as much as 10 individuals could have been killed after safety forces opened fireplace on protesters who threw stones and have been reported to have attacked a authorities constructing.

College students in a dozen universities in Tehran and in Karaj, west of the capital, within the northern cities of Rasht, and Mashhad within the northeast held protests on Saturday, chanting slogans reminiscent of “Girl, Life, Freedom,” based on movies posted by HRANA.

Reuters couldn’t independently authenticate the footage.

The disaster has dragged Iran’s forex to new historic lows. The U.S. greenback was promoting for as a lot as 362,100 rials on the unofficial market on Saturday, after shedding almost 12% of its worth for the reason that protests began, based on overseas alternate web site Bonbast.com.

In an obvious effort to curb the autumn of Iran’s troubled forex, the federal government on Saturday authorised on-line gross sales by forex sellers, to make it simpler for individuals to purchase laborious forex.

In the meantime, the Intelligence Ministry mentioned it had blocked the financial institution accounts of two,300 individuals accused of involvement within the overseas forex black market and that they could face authorized motion, state media reported.