http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2006/October/middleeast_October150.xml§ion=middleeast
Iran arrests controversial cleric and followers
(AFP)
8 October 2006
TEHERAN - Iran has arrested a controversial cleric and some of his followers who advocate separating religion and politics, a taboo in Islamic Iran, after clashes with police, the student ISNA agency said on Sunday.
Hundreds of supporters of Ayatollah Mohammad Kazemeini Borujerdi had gathered on Saturday around his house in Teheran to protest the arrest of a number of the Shiite cleric’s followers and restrictions imposed on him, press reports said.
“The ones behind Saturday’s unrest were arrested. All including, Mr Borujerdi, have been handed over to judiciary officials,” said a security official in Teheran governor’s office, identified only by his last name, Roshan.
Roshan said the police had previously sought to contain these ”sectarian elements” but yesterday “they were carrying Molotov cocktails, knives, swords and clubs to confront the police.”
“They even (for a time) took members of the force hostage and threw acid on policemen and vandalized public property,” he said, adding “calm has been restored” in the crowded neighborhood in downtown Teheran.
A report in reformist Hambastegi daily said the Special Court for Clergy had recently tried to arrest Borujerdi but faced by resistance by his supporters...
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Now its in the hands of the Iranian people about what happens next...