Annual nationwide pro-government rallies were held in Iran  to mark the end of the unrest after price protests turned political in a dozen cities across the country.

Unlike protests, the state TV channels 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 earlier this week 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.

Police arrested 52 people in Thursday’s anti-government protests, according to a judicial official in Mashhad, one of the holiest places in Shia Islam.