Iranian security forces have arrested 7,000 people who participated in protests against the rise in gasoline prices last week, a government spokesperson said.

A spokesman of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, Hossein Naghavi Hosseini stressed the need to wait for officials to release exact figures of those arrested as a result of the protests.

On Monday, Amnesty International said 143 protesters had been killed during the ongoing demonstrations which Tehran says were instigated by “outside parties” to disturb public order.

“According to credible reports… those killed include at least 143 people. The deaths have resulted almost entirely from the use of firearms,” the rights watchdog said, adding that it “ believes that the death toll is significantly higher,”.

On 15 November the government announced that it will increase the price of petrol by 200 per cent, triggering nationwide protests that soon turned into violent clashes between demonstrators and security forces.

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