(AP)
Updated: 2007-07-27 16:51

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Hundreds of religious students protested Friday at Islamabad's Red Mosque and blocked a government-appointed cleric from leading prayers at its planned reopening.

Pakistani police officers stand guard in the radical Red mosque during a visit of Pakistani religious minister, Thursday, July 26, 2007 in Pakistan. [AP]

The protests come more than two weeks after a bloody army siege at the mosque left more than 100 people dead.

The protesters demanded the return of the mosque's pro-Taliban former chief cleric, Abdul Aziz - who is in government detention - to lead Friday afternoon prayers, and shouted slogans against President Gen. Pervez Musharraf.

"Musharraf is a dog! He is worse than a dog! He should resign!" students shouted. Some lingered over the ruins of a neighboring seminary that was demolished by authorities this week. Militants had used the seminary to resist government forces involved in the siege.

The mosque's clerics had used the schools' thousands of students in an aggressive campaign to impose Taliban-style Islamic law in the capital. The campaign, which included kidnapping alleged prostitutes and threatening suicide attacks, raised concern about the spread of Islamic extremism in Pakistan.

Pakistan's Geo television showed scenes of pandemonium inside the mosque, with dozens of young men in traditional Islamic clothing and prayers caps shouting angrily and punching the air with their hands.

Officials were pushed and shoved by men in the crowd. One man picked up shoes left outside the mosque door and hurled them at news crews recording the scene.

The Red Mosque, or Lal Masjid, and a seminary were scorched by explosions and pocked by bullets after commandos stormed the complex July 10, ending a weeklong takeover by gunmen inside. At least 102 people died in the violence.

The commando raid and the redeployment of the army in Pakistan's violent northwest have prompted a wave of suicide attacks and bombings that have killed scores of security forces and civilians. President Gen. Pervez Musharraf has called for national unity against extremists enraged by the army's assault on the mosque.