TEHRAN: Vast crowds of Iranians loyal to the Islamic Republic massed in Tehran on Saturday (Jul 4) to begin almost a week of funeral ceremonies for slain supreme leader Ali Khamenei, which authorities want to send a message of defiance to the West after the war with the United States and Israel.
Clad in black and waving blood-red flags seen as a call for vengeance and justice under Shia Islam, mourners thronged the Grand Mosalla religious complex in the Iranian capital, AFP correspondents said.
Khamenei, who had ruled Iran since 1989 and pursued a course of confrontation with the West while crushing dissent at home, was killed aged 86 along with several members of his family and top officials in an Israeli strike on the first day of the war on Feb 28.
There was still no sign of Khamenei’s son and successor Mojtaba Khamenei, who has been unseen in public since being named. Other top Iranian officials who survived the war welcomed foreign dignitaries who paid their respects at the coffin on Friday before the complex opened to the public.
Sprayed with mists of water to keep cool in temperatures that may nudge 40°C in Tehran over the next few days, thousands of women and men – strictly segregated by gender – filled the vast complex.
They beat their chests in a sign of grief, overlooked by a giant portrait of the former leader.
The coffins of Khamenei, with his black turban on top, and four other family members were placed at the front on a raised dais, AFP photographs showed.
Chants of “death to America” and “revenge, revenge” echoed at the venue.
“The leader was a father to us all. With his passing, we have all been left orphaned … There was no one like him. He was truly unique and peerless,” said Mohammad Mirsalehi, 38, a cleric.
Hamidreza Shabani, a student, 18, added: “We must rise up and, God willing, avenge the blood of our leader.”
Authorities believe the ceremonies will mobilise more than 10 million people in the capital alone.
But before they began, Tehran was quieter than usual, with many normally busy streets free of the capital’s notorious traffic and some residents telling AFP in Paris that they had decided to leave the city for the duration of the ceremonies.
