Huge crowds of Iranians turned out for the funeral of leading dissident cleric Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri in the holy Shi'ite city of Qom yesterday and some chanted anti-government slogans, websites reported.
Montazeri, who died late on Saturday, aged 87, was viewed as the spiritual patron of a pro-reform opposition movement that blossomed after a disputed presidential election in June and has remained resilient despite repeated efforts to suppress it.
Violence flared when security forces around Montazeri's house clashed with stone-throwing protesters, the reformist website Norooz said. There was no immediate official comment. The moderate Parlemannews website cited "information received" of shots fired in the air near Qom's main shrine and also of the use of tear gas, without giving details.
The reports could not be verified independently because foreign media were banned from reporting directly on protests and were told not to travel to Qom for Montazeri's funeral. But pictures obtained by Reuters showed scuffles apparently between government and opposition supporters.
The reformist website Jaras said hundreds of thousands of people joined a procession for Montazeri, a pillar of Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution. He later became a fierce critic of its hardline leadership and a staunch defender of reformists. "Innocent Montazeri, your path will be continued even if the dictator should rain bullets on our heads," the crowd chanted.
The conservative Ayande website estimated the number of people attending the funeral ceremony at tens of thousands.
Iran's internal unrest, highlighted by Montazeri's arguments that the leadership had lost its legitimacy, has complicated the dispute over the Iranian nuclear programme, which the West believes may have military ends, not just civilian purposes.
Opposition leaders Mirhossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi were photographed paying their condolences at Montazeri's house. Reformist websites said security forces arrested some opposition supporters trying to reach Qom and turned others away.