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Iran Forces Beat, Arrest Protesters in New Unrest

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iranian security forces beat up anti-government demonstrators and arrested more than 50 people on Monday in a second day of unrest in the capital Tehran, witnesses said. Cartoon here

The feared Basij Islamic militiamen, part of the security forces, and riot police attacked some 100 people, mainly students, gathered at a park in central Tehran to demand greater freedom of speech, they said.

Many protesters fled after the attack, with the Basij forces taking control of Student Park and surrounding streets, the witnesses said.

After the incident, members of the militia roamed the streets on motorbikes and pickup trucks, chanting victory songs: ``Long Live Hezbollah,'' they shouted, referring to the party of God.

The latest protest took place as the Islamic republic marked the 22nd anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution. Tens of thousands took to the streets in Tehran to celebrate the event.

This year's anniversary has been marked by growing unrest in the Iranian capital.

Police said earlier it had arrested 50 people in an anti-government demonstration in Tehran on Friday, held by several hundred people to protest against a crackdown on free speech in the Islamic republic.

``Between 300 and 400 people tried to hold an illegal gathering, shouting slogans on lack of freedom of speech,'' the unidentified official told state-run Iranian news agency IRNA.

``Fifty of them were arrested for disrupting traffic and public order. They face legal action,'' he said.

The official denied witness reports that a number of protesters, mainly youngsters, had been injured in confrontations with Islamic militiamen.

``None of the demonstrators was injured and those who were arrested are in good health. We tried hard to prevent physical clashes between the demonstrators and people,'' he said.

A number of student leaders and pro-democracy activists have been jailed and more than 30 newspapers banned in the past year, in a hard-line backlash against President Mohammad Khatami's liberal social and political reforms.

The crackdown has pushed Khatami and his reform program to the sidelines, leaving many young people, a driving force behind his 1997 landslide election, disenchanted.

There have been growing incidents of unrest throughout Iran in the past year.

Iran has been holding 10 days of celebrations to mark the anniversary of the revolution which toppled the pro-Western shah.

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