Security forces on Sunday arrested several including pensioners, a journalist, a worker and a student activist in Tehran in the weekly protest of pensioners who have been campaigning for higher payments for months to cope with rising prices.

According to social media reports, security forces attacked the protesters in Tehran and beat them with batons to disperse them and arrested pensioner Esmail Gerami, economic reporter Kamyar Fakour, and food delivery worker As'ad Meftahi. The highly censored news websites and even the Iranian Labour News Agency (ILNA) have made no mention of the rally or the arrests.

The rallies this Sunday, as seen from videos posted on social media, were held in at least 18 cities including several province capitals such as Mashhad, Sari, Rasht, Esfahan and Sanandaj. Eyewitnesses reported a heavy presence of police and security forces.

This is the first time that protesters who often rally in smaller groups in different cities on the same day of the week -- usually not more than a couple of hundred at the most in any one place -- are attacked by security forces. Pensioners have so far always protested peacefully chanting slogans about high inflation. They often also demand resignation of related officials including the minister of cooperatives, labor and social welfare, Mohammad Shariatmadari.

Pensioners covered by the Social Welfare Organization who demand payments equal to retired civil servants have been holding weekly protests in various cities since July in front of government offices. They also believe that their pension contributions over the years have been squandered by the Social Welfare Organization which has been lending funds from their pension pots to the government driving the funds to the brink of collapse. A report by the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare in September said given the inflation rate and fines for the delays in payments of instalments, the government's accumulated debts to the Social Welfare Organization had reached 3,400 trillion rials or about $11.8 billion.

The Social Welfare Organization − also known as Social Security Organization − covers private-sector workers, including on a voluntary basis the self-employed. Protesters say their payments are far lower than government and military pensioners, and demand increases in line with inflation, currently put at 41.2 percent by the World Bank. US sanctions have driven the national currency lower, fueling inflation.

Food prices have been rising faster, with many items experiencing triple-digit inflation. Many ordinary Iranians have stopped buying meet and fruits. As the new year approaches on March 20, media and officials are forced to raise the issue of inflation and promise action to make things affordable.

President Hassan Rouhani ordered Sunday that prices must come down, although such calls have been made in the past without any impact on the market.

Pensioners are not alone in struggling to buy basic items. Since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in February and with the continuing pressure of United States sanctions, at least 2 million Iranians have lost their jobs. Ordinary workers make the equivalent of $100-150 a month, one-third of what they earned three years ago before the US imposed sanctions. According to the Vice Chairman of the Social Welfare Organization's Board of Directors, Ali Heidari, an estimated 7 million in Iran are not covered by any pension schemes.

The Iranian government has not announced poverty figures for the past few years. The only semi-official figure for a poverty line is a monthly income of 45 million rials (roughly $220) for a family of four, as stated in a report in June by the parliament’s Research Center but many believe that the real figure for poverty line in urban areas is above 90 million rials.