Indonesian police removed a radical Muslim cleric suspected of leading the Jemaah Islamiah militant network from his hospital bed in central Java today as his weeping supporters and security forces clashed outside.
Abu Bakar Bashir (64) was flown to Jakarta and taken to a police hospital, but there was no immediate word on when he would be questioned about a series of Christian church bombings and an alleged plot to kill President Megawati Sukarnoputri.
Supporters tried to prevent police removing Bashir, who denies any involvement in terrorism, from the hospital in the city of Solo as international pressure mounts on Ms Megawati to act against Muslim extremists following the bloody Bali bombs.
Witnesses said plainclothes police broke down the door of Bashir's hospital room after three supporters locked it and lay on top of their leader as fellow students fought police outside.
The policemen kicked and hauled them off Bashir, put the cleric in a wheelchair, pushed him from the hospital and drove him away, they said.
Outside, hundreds of teenagers, tears streaming down their faces, threw rocks and exchanged punches with police. Ten policemen were seen bleeding.
After police drove away with Bashir, who has not been accused of involvement in the Bali blasts which killed more than 180 people although Jemaah Islamiah is suspected of being behind them, an aide called for calm and most of his supporters left.