At least ten people were killed as anti-government protestors in Iran defied warnings of crackdown and organised demonstrations on Sunday, Reuters reported on Monday citing Iranian state television. Two protestors had been shot dead in the town of Dorud on Saturday.

President Hassan Rouhani addressed the demonstrators, saying they had the right to protest and reasons to be aggrieved about the state of the economy and corruption.

“We are a free nation, and based on the Constitution and citizenship rights, people are completely free to express their criticism and even their protest,” Rouhani was quoted as saying by the state-run PressTV.

However, he warned the protestors that the government would not tolerate acts of vandalism. The president gave the warning after there were reports of demonstrators attacking banks and municipal buildings across Iran, including a government building in the Capital city of Tehran, The New York Times reported.

Thousands of people have been protesting across the country since December 28 against the government and clerical elite of the country. These are the largest demonstrations in Iran since 2009, when protestors took to the streets to challenge the results of a presidential election that kept hard-liner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in power.