Supporters of a senior Shi'ite Muslim cleric who challenged Iran's system of clerical rule clashed with police during a protest outside the cleric's house, Iranian media reported on Sunday.

Police used tear gas to disperse the crowd of at least 200 people that had gathered on Saturday outside the home in southern Tehran of Ayatollah Mohammad Kazemeini Boroujerdi, newspapers reported.

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Etemad-e Melli daily said protesters formed a cordon around the house to call for the release of Boroujerdi's followers who they said had been detained. Some newspapers said the crowd feared Boroujerdi might himself be arrested.

Seday-e Edalat reported that the crowd, some carrying knives, lit fires to stop police approaching the house. A picture showed police in riot geared lined up near a crowd of people in the street and smoke rising up.

Officials were not immediately available to comment.

The Iranian authorities are wary of any challenge, particularly from top clerics, to the system of clerical rule that was established after the 1979 Islamic revolution by revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

"We believe that our nation is tired of political religion and they want to return to traditional religion," Boroujerdi told Iran's labour news agency ILNA on Saturday.

He said he had written to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, Pope Benedict and other leaders asking them "to make efforts to spread traditional religion", ILNA reported.

A senior police officer was quoted as saying Boroujerdi claimed to be a
representative of the "hidden" 12th Imam, who Shi'ite Muslims revere, and this prompted some people to make donations.

"This is misinterpreting religion and is sheer lies," the police officer was quoted by Seday-e Edalat as saying.

Iran has an elected president and parliament, but final authority lies with the supreme leader, currently Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to 'velayat-e faqih', the system of rule by a religious legal scholar that was propounded by Khomeini.

The supreme leader is chosen by an assembly of elected clerics.

Some traditional Shi'ite Muslim clerics hold that religious leaders should not have a political role.

The protesters outside Boroujerdi's home chanted "God is greatest" and verses from the Muslim holy book, the Koran. One newspaper said a placard they carried read: "We are ready to be martyred for defending traditional religion."

As an ayatollah, Boroujerdi holds one of the highest ranks in the Shi'ite Muslim religious hierarchy.