Iran Focus: London, Jul. 18 – More than 50,000 workers took to the streets of cities across on Saturday to protest against the government’s labour policies. The largest protest was in the western city of Ilam, where 17,000 workers took part in a rally. At least 20,000 workers also rallied in two separate towns of Pakdasht and Varamin near Tehran.

Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Jul. 17 – A senior paramilitary police commander was killed last night in the course of clashes between anti-government demonstrators and security forces in Iran’s Kurdish town of Mahabad, the state-run television reported on Sunday.

Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Jul. 17 – Iran’s security forces have arrested dozens of Kurds in the town of Bukan, northwest Iran, in clashes that have been going on for three days, residents said. Two of those arrested are believed to be Hassan Amanollah and Kamal Parvizian, according to residents who were reached by telephone.

Iran Focus: Paris, Jul. 17 – Iran paraded its senior officials over the weekend to hammer a tough message to the European Union ahead of the next round of nuclear talks expected to take place in August. Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi told the official Iranian news agency in Tehran on Sunday that his government would reject any proposal by the European Union’s trio – Britain, Germany and France – that does not “enshrine uranium enrichment”.

Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Jul. 17 – An Iranian man arrested for taking part in an anti-government demonstration in Tehran on Tuesday died as he was trying to escape from his torturers at a police station, a government source in the Iranian capital told Iran Focus. Ehsan Karavi was arrested during a protest by thousands of people in support of political prisoners outside Tehran University on Tuesday.