Iranian protesters mourn dead

TEHRAN, Iran – Protesters swarmed Tehran’s main cemetery and fanned out across a large swath of the capital Thursday, defying truncheons and tear gas to publicly mourn those killed in weeks of unrest, including a young woman whose death shocked people around the world.

The protests marked the 40th day since the shooting of Neda Agha Soltan was caught on video and posted on the Internet. For Shiite Muslims, the 40th day is of religious importance, often an occasion for an outpouring of emotion and grief.

Thirty years ago, such commemorations helped build momentum for the Islamic revolution that overthrew the shah. The protesters’ resilience this time set the stage for more clashes next week, when hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is inaugurated for a second term – despite allegations that he won because of widespread fraud in the June 12 vote.

Still, the scale and reach of Thursday’s protests, which also erupted in at least four other cities, appeared to catch security forces off guard. After initially bloodying some of the mourners arriving at Behesht Zahra cemetery, security officers stepped back. They mingled amicably with protesters, many of them young women dressed in black and carrying roses, and in one case even accepted flowers from them.

The mourners chanted political slogans as they rode the Tehran subway from the city center to the cemetery and back. When they returned to the center, they took to the streets – first in the area of the Grand Mossala mosque, where they had been banned from gathering. Later, along side streets and main thoroughfares, they were occasionally attacked by baton-wielding security personnel, some on motorcycles.

But they also were cheered on by thousands of well-wishers honking car horns or hanging out the windows of apartments and buses. They clogged traffic on roadways and tunnels, holding up signs supporting opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi. Shopkeepers distributed bottles of water to sustain the demonstrators in the heat.

“Honorable Iranians,” the protesters chanted, “today is a day of mourning.”

And in a challenge to a harsh media crackdown, they videotaped everything and quickly flooded the Internet with amateur footage of the day’s events in the capital as well as the provincial cities of Isfahan, Shiraz, Ahvaz and Rasht.

“Death to the dictator,” chanted those in one long procession heading toward Agha Soltan’s grave, kicking up a storm of dust as they walked. “Neda is not dead. This government is dead.”

As night fell, witnesses reported severe confrontations between demonstrators and security forces in north-central Tehran. Trash bonfires lit to counter the effects of tear gas belched black smoke into the sky. Residents rushed injured protesters into their homes to protect them from roaming bands of Basiji militiamen.