"We are not going to stop," said Mohamad Ezam Mohamad Nor, a former aide to the jailed ex-deputy premier, after visiting a police station in a vain attempt to win the release of 11 protestors detained for illegal assembly.

Tian Chua, vice-president of the National Justice Party founded by Anwar's wife, told AFP the protesters would converge again Wednesday at the high court. "We are not intimidated."

Rights group Suaram protested the arrests and said Malaysians may one day "wake up to a totalitarian state."

It urged Deputy Premier and Home Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, in charge while Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad is on vacation overseas, to take responsibility for the "callous actions" of police.

Lim Kit Siang, chairman of the Democratic Action Party, demanded a public inquiry into the police response to what he called a peaceful protest.

"I have received reports that the police were unnecessarily provocative and used excessive force this morning against peaceful protesters," he said in a statement.

Police denied the claims. "We did not act provocatively. They (the protestors) acted provocatively," local police chief Mohamad Bakri Zinin told

"They asked us to take action against them. We were soft in our approach," he added, promising action against any further protests.

Suaram said the constitution allowed for freedom of peaceful assembly but, unlike in other Commonwealth countries, it was subordinate to laws on assembly.

Coordinator Subramaniam Arutchelvan said that under the Police Act any assembly not licensed by police is deemed unlawful if three or more members refuse to obey orders to disperse.

Protests began early Tuesday when some 20 supporters, shouting "Long Live Anwar" and "Down with Mahathir," gathered outside the court as he arrived from jail waving and smiling.

The charismatic politician, once heir apparent to Mahathir, was sacked in September 1998 and jailed for six years last April for abusing his official powers to cover up allegations of sexual misconduct.

Anwar, who could face a 20-year jail term if convicted of sodomy, says he is the victim of a high-level political conspiracy.

Three vans of police with dogs were parked nearby but did not intervene and the small group dispersed peacefully.

About 200 other protesters had assembled in the morning outside the magistrates' court 100 metres away, where eight supporters of the former deputy appeared separately on charges of illegal assembly over a pro-Anwar demonstration last September.

The case against the eight was adjourned for one day. The crowd then marched from the magistrates' court to a nearby legal aid centre, where police moved in.

Scuffles broke out during the arrests but no serious violence was reported. Two water cannon trucks were seen on standby in the city centre.

An estimated 200 shouting people then marched towards a police station where those arrested were taken.

Organisers halted the march but supporters gathered again outside the high court in the afternoon to see Anwar taken back to jail.