Massive funeral/political rally in Iran

AFP:

Iran police clashed with stone-throwing protesters after the funeral attended by vast crowds of mourners in Qom Monday of dissident cleric Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, websites said.

Montazeri, an inspiration to Iran reformists and human rights activists and a fierce critic of the clerical regime he helped create, died aged 87 on Saturday.

Opposition websites said hundreds of thousands of mourners poured onto the streets of the holy city of Qom, many chanting slogans and displaying the green of the Iran's opposition -- effectively turning the funeral procession into a massive anti-government rally.

Mourners were shouting slogans such as "Dictator, Montazeri's way will continue" and "Montazeri is not dead, it is the government which is dead," opposition website Rahesabz.net said.

Another website, Kaleme.org, said police and security forces clashed with a groups of chanting mourners who after the funeral had gathered in front of Montazeri's house.

"The police cracked down on people who were shouting (anti-government) slogans in front his house and people threw stones at them," the website said.

Hundreds of hardline basij militia members and clerics, it added, also gathered near Montazeri's house and chanted slogans in favour of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and against the protesters.

Another opposition website Rahesabz.net said a group of "basijis attacked Montazeri's house and tore up his funeral banners."

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The funeral was another opportunity for the opposition in Iran to demonstrate its continued rejection of the legitimacy of the government. That opposition has not diminished since the crack downs, but in fact seems to have grown. It is unfortunate that the Obama administration has not supported the opposition in Iran. When the government is overthrown, there will be long memories.