Anti-government demonstrators have been attacked in the Iranian capital of Tehran, and reformers have warned that larger protests would erupt if the country's Islamic rulers ignore the people's demands.
About 300 people demonstrated in an eastern neighbourhood of Tehran, but they dispersed after anti-riot police and militants gathered.
In Gohardasht, about 25 miles to the west, some 700 demonstrators were attacked by anti-riot police and militants, a witness said.
"Fierce clashes are going on here. Around 400 anti-riot police and vigilantes are beating up protesters and taking them away in buses," the witness said.
Last week's protests, the largest in months, began with students demonstrating against plans to privatise universities and snowballed into broader displays of opposition to Iran's clerical establishment, led by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The protests largely stopped after a huge security deployment and the unleashing of hard-line thugs to attack the protesters.
The administration of US President George W. Bush - whose comments in support of the protests have angered Iranian officials - condemned the crackdown.
US Secretary of State Mr Colin Powell said the Iranian people were dissatisfied. "We are not out there inside Iran fomenting them. But if people wish to demonstrate peacefully and demonstrate for their rights and a better life, that seems to us a proper thing to do."
The Iranian government has accused Washington of interfering in its internal affairs - and some opponents of the regime also say the US comments don't help their cause.
AP