Full Report of Montazeri’s Funeral in Qom

Grand Ayatollah Montazeri's coffin being carried to Imam Hassan Mosque.

Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri was buried in Qom on Monday. His funeral services were attended by a mass of people as big as the protests in June. This too even after the government attempted to block roads and strictly told government-run media organizations to not publicize his funeral.

People had started to flock to Qom within hours of the announcement of his death. Among them were opposition leaders, political activists, students and ordinary folks. Some people had come with their families. Highways leading up to Qom from Tehran were closed for hours because of traffic the day before.

Here’s a breakdown of the key facts of the day:

Number of people:

Different numbers were reported by different media organizations. There were differing eye-witness accounts and the videos from Youtube were not as numerous. However, what can be safely said is that there were at least 500,000 people out in Qom – and at most close to a million.

Mood:

Even though most people were there to mourn, the mourning soon turned into massive protests against the government. People wore black and green and held huge posters of Montazeri. Some of the chants were, “Allahu Akbar”, “Death to the Dictator”, “We don’t want this government!” and there were visible chants against Khamenei. The crowd kept roaring for hours even after Montazeri’s son Ahmed Montazeri begged the crowd to not chant political slogans. People also chanted, “Montazeri Montazeri; Congratulations on your freedom!”

So in effect, the funeral was turned into a Green Movement protest the likes of which had not been seen since early July.

Participation by Reformists:

Both Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mahdi Karroubi traveled to Qom to pay their last respects to the late leader. Also in attendance were Hojjatol-Islam Mohsen Rehami, Hojjatol-Islam Mousavi Lari, Abdullah Noori,  Emaduddin Baghi, Mohammad Reza Khatami, Eng. Alveri, Amir Arjmand, Mahmood Rasekh and representatives of Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami.

Other reformists who participated included Ali Akbar Mohtashami, Hadi Ghaffari, Mustafa Moein, Ashrafi Isfahani, Masjid Jame’i and Gholamhossein Karbaschi.

Here are pictures of prominent reformists in attendance: http://yoldash.ir/post-3032.aspx

Participation by Clerics:

Most clerics allied with Khamenei and Ahmadinejad did not participate. Some high-ranking clerics like Javad-Amoli could not attend because of old age. However, present were Ayatollah Sane’i, Ayatollah Mousavi Khoyeniha, Ayatollah Amini, Ayatollah Bejnordi, Ayatollah Taheri Isfahani, Sayed Hassan Khomeini and Ayatollah Shabiri Zanjani – who led the funeral prayers.

There was also news that Khamenei’s brother Hadi Khamenei also took part in the funeral procession. Pictures of Ayatollah Sane’i with teary eyes have surfaced. Montazeri and Sane’i were close friends.

Incidents of Violence:

Security forces had been brought in from other cities in order to control the crowds. Masoumeh’s Shrine where Montazeri was finally buried was heavily guarded and the doors were closed to the public. People gathered outside the shrine and Montazeri’s house.

After the funeral procession was over, there were several reports of clashes between the Basij and plainclothesmen and the protesters. There were no confirmed reports of the number of injured, however, witnesses claim to have seen several dozen people receiving minor injuries.

It is worth noting that the police tried to keep the plainclothesmen away from the crowds. There were reports that tear gas was fired on the crowds, but I could verify those. Basijis reportedly tore a poster of Montazeri and tried to provoke the crowd, but clashes never intensified too much.

Attack on Reformist Leaders:

There were reports of Basij attempting to beat Karroubi, however, it is said that the crowd shielded him against the attacks. After the funeral was over, Mousavi’s entourage was harassed by plainclothesmen. His car was chased and one of his companions was injured after the plainclothesmen broke a side window of the car he was traveling in. He did not receive any injuries himself. One plainclothesman also got injured in the attack.

Aftermath:

By the end of the day, the crowds were so vocal in their chanting against the government that a later mourning ceremony to be held in Imam Hassan Mosque in Qom was cancelled. Several people were arrested on their way to Qom, including Shiva Nazarahari, Mahnaz Mohamadi, Mahboubeh Abasgholi and Kohyar Godarzi. Nazarahari was released recently after spending months in prison on charges related to the protests.

(Gentle Reminder: As with all news from Iran these days, as more reports emerge, I’ll update the data.  For now, these are the facts that I’m almost absolutely sure of.)