Mayor of Mashad Beaten Up

AFP, Khaleej Times Online:

The mayor of Iran’s second largest city has been beaten up after he challenged workers on an illegal construction site, the conservative Kayhan newspaper reported on Sunday.

Seyed Hashem Bani Hashem, mayor of the northeastern pilgrimage city of Mashhad, was driving around the city’s outskirts when he spotted bulldozers at work. After demanding the labourers show him their permit, he was reported to have been set upon for five hours.

Five people were arrested, the paper said.