TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — A member of Iran’s security forces was killed during protests that erupted last week, state television reported on Thursday citing a regional official.

“A 21-year-old member of the Basij from the city of Kouhdasht was killed last night (Wednesday) by rioters while defending public order,” the channel said, citing Said Pourali, the deputy governor of Lorestan Province.

This is the first officially confirmed death since the start of the protests on Sunday, which began peacefully in the capital Tehran.

The Basij are a volunteer paramilitary force linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, the ideological arm of the Islamic republic.

State media has labeled demonstrators as rioters during previous protest movements.

Pourali said that “during the demonstrations in Kouhdasht, 13 police officers and Basij members were injured by stone throwing.”

The protests began in Tehran, where shopkeepers went on strike over the high cost of living and economic stagnation.

They then spread to other cities, after students at at least 10 universities joined in on Tuesday.

Iran is in the middle of an extended weekend, with the authorities declaring Wednesday a bank holiday at the last minute, citing the need to save energy during the cold weather.

They made no official link to the protests.

The weekend in Iran begins on Thursday, while Saturday marks a long-standing national holiday.

Iran’s prosecutor general said on Wednesday that peaceful economic protests were legitimate, but any attempt to create insecurity would be met with a “decisive response.”

“Any attempt to turn economic protests into a tool of insecurity, destruction of public property, or implementation of externally designed scenarios will inevitably be met with a legal, proportionate and decisive response.”

On Wednesday evening, the Tasnim news agency reported the arrest of seven people it described as being affiliated with “groups hostile to the Islamic Republic based in the United States and Europe.”

It said they had been “tasked with turning the demonstrations into violence.” Tasnim did not say when they were arrested.

The national currency, the rial, has lost more than a third of its value against the United States dollar over the past year, while double-digit hyperinflation has already been undermining Iranians’ purchasing power for years. 

The inflation rate in December was 52 percent year-on-year, according to the Statistical Centre of Iran, an official body.