Millions of Iranians Escort Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Call for Revenge

Millions of Iranians reportedly packed the streets of the capital Tehran to take part in the funeral procession of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state media described the procession as one of the largest mass mobilisations in the country’s modern history. Press TV reported that Iranian officials characterised the procession as ‘the largest public gathering in modern Iranian history’. Thousands of mourners had thronged Azadi Street since morning to pay their final respects to Khamenei. Senior commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), General Hassan Hassanzadeh, urged the public to remain orderly during the procession. ‘We ask the public to move calmly towards Azadi Square,’ Hassanzadeh said, as quoted by Press TV. The government sought to avoid the crush incidents that occurred during the funeral of Khamenei’s predecessor, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, in 1989, in which more than 10 people died and over 10,000 were injured due to overcrowding. The funeral procession featured a convoy of trucks carrying the coffin of Khamenei through a sea of people on Azadi Street. According to Iranian media reports, the convoy also carried the coffins of Khamenei’s daughter, his three-year-old grandchild, his son-in-law, and daughter-in-law. All were martyred as a result of US and Israeli attacks on Iran last February. Khamenei’s body was scheduled to be taken to Azadi Square as the final point of the funeral procession in Tehran. Afterwards, the body was to be sent to the holy cities of Karbala and Najaf in Iraq before burial in Mashhad, Iran. During the procession, mourners carried red flags and banners, which in Shia tradition symbolise a call to avenge the blood of a fallen leader. At various points around the Grand Mosalla complex in Tehran, banners reading ‘Ya Latharat al-Hussein’ (O Avengers of Hussein) and a new slogan ‘Ya Latharat al-Khamenei’ (O Avengers of Khamenei) were displayed. In Shia tradition, the call ‘Ya Latharat al-Hussein’ refers to Imam Hussein, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad, who fell in the Battle of Karbala in 680 AD. The event has become a symbol of the struggle against tyranny and is commemorated annually by Shia Muslims. The use of the slogan ‘Ya Latharat al-Khamenei’ is seen as a symbol linking Khamenei’s death to the narrative of Imam Hussein’s sacrifice, while also calling for revenge against those deemed responsible for the Supreme Leader’s death.