Iran holds pro-government rallies after protests

DUBAI – Annual nationwide pro-government rallies were held in Iran on Saturday to mark the end of the unrest that shook the country in 2009, state media reported, a day after price protests turned political in a dozen cities.

State television showed a rally in the capital Tehran and marchers carrying banners in support of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Iran's second largest city of Mashhad.

Hundreds of people took to the streets there on Thursday to protest against high prices and shouted anti-government slogans.

On Friday, police dispersed anti-government demonstrators in the western city of Kermanshah as protests spread to Tehran and several other cities in the largest wave of demonstrations since nationwide pro-reform unrest in 2009.