Some 40 Iranian protesters and 22 policemen and city workers were injured in clashes after authorities tried to destroy illegally built houses in a poor Tehran suburb, the official news agency IRNA said yesterday.

It said riot police arrested 30 people after residents in Nassir-Abad, west of the capital, threw stones at officers and set fire to three bulldozers and several other vehicles used by municipality workers to raze their homes on Wednesday.

Police shot in the air and used tear gas to restore order in the district, home to 24,000 people, mostly labourers, after demonstrators damaged shops, cars and government buildings, according to IRNA.

Tehran's poor suburbs, home to millions of people who have moved to the capital in search of jobs, have been the scene of frequent protests against the lack of basic services or clashes over attempts by the municipality to remove squatters.