Tens of thousands of Iranian mourners turned the funeral procession of the country’s most senior dissident cleric into an anti-government protest yesterday, chanting “death to the dictator” and slogans in support of the opposition amid heavy security.
Witnesses said security forces clamped down in Iran’s holy city of Qom, where massive crowds streamed in for the funeral rites for Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, who died on Sunday at age 87.
One opposition Web site reported clashes outside Montazeri’s home between security forces and mourners, who threw stones. Iranian authorities have barred foreign media from covering the rites, and witnesses spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of arrest.
Montazeri’s death pushed Iranian authorities into a difficult spot. They were obliged to pay respects to one of the patriarchs of the 1979 Islamic Revolution and the one-time heir apparent to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
But officials also worried that Montazeri’s memorials could become new rallying points for opposition demonstrations.
The ayatollah broke with Iran’s clerical leadership and became a vehement critic, denouncing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and calling the postelection crackdown the work of a dictatorship.
Many mourners shouted protest cries including “Death to the Dictator” in displays of anger against Iran’s ruling establishment during the procession in Qom, a city of shrines and clerical seminaries about 100km south of Tehran, witnesses said.
Marchers held aloft black-rimmed portraits of Montazeri and green banners and wrist bands in a powerful show of support for the Green Movement of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, who attended the funeral along with another prominent protest leader, Mahdi Karroubi.
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