Iran police clashed with mourners at a memorial service in Isfahan on Wednesday for dissident cleric Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, arresting more than 50 and beating women and children, reports said.
Hundreds of police and security force members early morning surrounded the Seyed mosque in Isfahan where the service was to be held and prevented mourners from entering, sparking fierce clashes, opposition websites said.
The mourners were shouting slogans in support of Iran's opposition Green Movement and police fired tear gas to disperse them, website Rahesabz.net. said.
"Security forces are beating people including women and children with batons, chains and stones," it said, adding that "so far several have been arrested and many were injured."
Parlemannews.ir, the website of Iran's reformist minority faction in parliament, said that "over 50 people, including four reporters, were arrested in clashes."
The latest crackdown on the opposition comes a day after its major leader Mir Hossein Mousavi was sacked from his post as president of the Academy of Art, which the architect and painter had headed for 10 years.
Montazeri, a fierce critic of the clerical regime he helped create and a vocal backer of the opposition, died aged 87 on Saturday.
{{/usCountry}}Montazeri, a fierce critic of the clerical regime he helped create and a vocal backer of the opposition, died aged 87 on Saturday.
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