Gunmen Fire on Iranian Opposition Cleric's Car

Armed pro-government demonstrators opened fire on the car of an Iranian opposition leader, shattering its windows but leaving him unharmed, his website reported today. The shooting happened late yesterday while former presidential candidate Mahdi Karroubi was leaving a building in Qazvin where he'd been staying. Some 500 people were demonstrating outside the building, according to Sahamnews, many of them armed, and police were unable to disperse them.

Karroubi's car was attacked by a mob wielding bricks in late December, just days after a harsh crackdown on opposition protests. A senior cleric seemed to condone such attacks in his prayers at the capital today, saying that "people will lose patience if the legal apparatus does not conduct its affairs in a timely manner." (More Iran stories.)