Troubled funeral: A picture showing Iranian opposition supporters and supporters of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei clashing during the funeral of Iranian cleric Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri in the holy city of Qom on Monday.

TEHRAN (News agencies) – Security forces clashed with opposition protesters gathered yesterday for a memorial for Iran's most senior dissident cleric, beating men and women and firing teargas, reformist websites reported.

The gathering at the main mosque in the central city of Isfahan, 200 miles (32km) southeast of Tehran, was meant to honour Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, the spiritual leader of the Iranian reformist movement who died Sunday. His death set off large memorial ceremonies that turned into pro-opposition protests in defiance of a months-long government crackdown on protesters rallying against the disputed June presidential elections. Iran has been in turmoil since the vote, which the opposition alleges Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won by fraud. Top opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, who was declared the loser in the June election, was sacked from his post at Iran's prestigious Art Academy after attending Montazeri's funeral. More than 50 people were arrested yesterday in Isfahan, including pro-opposition cleric Masoud Adib, who was expected to address the gathering at the mosque, the Salaamnews and Parlemannews websites said. Mourners poured out in thousands into the streets leading to the mosque, although anti-riot police and plainclothes pro-government Basij militia men had blocked the neighbourhood, the websites said. Parlemannews website reported that Basij beat people, including women, and used teargas and pepper spray to disperse the crowds. It said troops also surrounded the home of Ayatollah Jalaleddin Taheri, a senior reformist cleric who organised the memorial. Farid Salavati, an Isfahan resident who tried to attend the memorial, said anti-riot police and militia men surrounded the Seyed Mosque since early morning. "They didn't allow anybody to enter the mosque," Salavati told reporters. "Tens of thousands gathered outside for the memorial but were savagely attacked by security forces and the Basijis." Salavati said baton-wielding riot police clubbed people on the head and shoulders, and kicked men and women alike, injuring dozens. He said sporadic clashes were still going on by mid-day yesterday. The memorial did not take place, he said.