Two of Iran’s top pro-reform figures say police used excessive force against anti-government protesters who took to the streets last week on the sidelines of state-sanctioned rallies to mark the 30^th anniversary of the U.S. Embassy takeover.

Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mahdi Karroubi say authorities even struck women on their heads with batons. In a Web posting Saturday, they called such treatment an ugly act that was not even seen during the shah’s response to the 1979 Islamic revolution that toppled him.

Mousavi and Karroubi have led a protest movement rejecting the legitimacy of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s June re-election.