Sri Lanka, Dec. 31 -- Iranian students staged street protests in Tehran on Tuesday, a day after the capital's shopkeepers demonstrated against economic hardship and won a message of understanding from the president.

According to Ilna, a news agency associated with Iran's labour movement, protests erupted at 10 universities across the country, including seven in Tehran that are among the country's most prestigious.

Protests also broke out at the technology university in the central city of Isfahan and institutions in the cities of Yazd and Zanjan, Ilna and state-run IRNA reported.

On Tuesday, security forces and riot police were deployed at major intersections in Tehran and around some universities, according to AFP journalists, while s...