IRNA � Iranian government recognizes the people's right to protest within the framework of citizens' rights and the Constitution, spokesman for the government said here on Tuesday.


'Rioters and protestors are not the same,' Mohammad-Baqer Nobakht said at his weekly press briefing held in the Iranian capital this morning.

'According to the Constitutional Law, non-violation of public security makse the distinction between riots and protests, Nobakht said.

'Even the rioters should be confronted within the framework of law,' he added.

In recent days, people in different Iranian cities have staged protests over the economic situation in the country. The protests have sometimes turned violent.