PARIS, France (AFP) — Iran’s supreme leader said Saturday that authorities “must break the back of the seditionists” whom he accused of killing thousands during the wave of protests that were brutally repressed in the country.

Demonstrations have subsided after the crackdown that rights groups say left thousands of people dead under an internet blackout that has lasted more than a week.

“We do not intend to lead the country to war, but we will not spare domestic criminals,” supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told supporters during a televised address.

Schools were set to resume Sunday, the ISNA news agency said, following a one-week closure, with postponed university exams set to be held in a week.

The demonstrations were sparked by anger over economic hardship that exploded into the biggest protests against the Islamic republic in more than three years.