Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has dismissed demonstrators as a “bunch of vandals” seeking to “please” Trump. The U.S. president has threatened to hit Iran “very hard” if they “start killing people.”

The protests were sparked by soaring inflation, and have spread to more than 100 cities and towns across every province in Iran. Now protesters are calling for an end to the clerical rule of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

With the internet restricted in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. But activists claim violence surrounding the demonstrations has killed at least 538 people, the Associated Press reported.

Some 10,600 people have been detained, according to U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency as cited by AP.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Saturday said the EU stands “fully behind” the demonstrators in the country and called for imprisoned Iranian protesters to be released. “We unequivocally condemn the violent repression of these legitimate demonstrations,” von der Leyen said in a post on X.

European Parliament President Roberta Metsola Saturday evening called for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to be designated as a terrorist organization and for more sanctions to be imposed on the Iranian regime.