Riot police surround Tehran bazaar after Ahmadinejad talks sanctions
Iranian riot police swarmed a major bazaar Wednesday in Tehran, where protests broke out over the country's plummeting currency and garbage cans were set ablaze.
The bazaar was closed after the demonstrations began, with some protesters using boxes and tires to start fires, according to a merchant who didn't want to give his name for security reasons.
But the semi-official Mehr news agency quoted the head of the bazaar's merchant's association as saying that officials had observed "suspicious" activity and identified people around the market who were from "outside the bazaar community."
The bazaar was closed for safety reasons, Mehr reported.
Dozens of police on motorcycles responded to the scene, and dozens more were on foot.
The incident took place a day after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad delivered a speech insisting the government is not to blame for the sharp drop in the value of the rial.
He spent much of the speech blaming sanctions imposed by the West.
"There is a hidden war, a very pervasive and heavy warfare that is happening across the world directed towards Iran," he said.
Ahmadinejad insisted the sanctions hurt the people, not the government.
The United States and European Union have issued numerous sanctions against Iran in hopes of pressuring the government to reveal more about its nuclear program.
The "enemy" has "succeeded in reducing the sale of our oil to an extent, but God willing, we will fill it up," he insisted.
The country's economy "has become a tool for psychological warfare," the president said.
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