MORE than 300 people have been arrested after lethal clashes in Tehran between police and a community of dervishes.

Followers of the 90-year-old Sufi leader Nour Ali Tabandeh camped outside his home on Monday, apparently fearing he was about to be arrested. The dervishes were armed with clubs and knives and fought back when police moved in to disperse them, reportedly killing five officers, though some reports said three had died when a Sufi bus driver ran them over. One of the dervishes was also killed.

Sufi leaders say there has been a clampdown on their community since major anti-government demonstrations shook Iran last month. Iranian authorities periodically harass Sufi believers, closing their mosques and lodges.

Mr Tabandeh, grand master of the Gonabadi Sufi Order, was briefly deputy justice minister after the Islamic Revolution of 1979, but his relations with the government have since deteriorated.