Dissidents turn Iran cleric's funeral into a mass protest

Fighting broke out today as tens of thousands of Iranians attended the funeral procession of the country's leading dissident cleric.

Massive crowds, many chanting "death to the dictator" and waving banners in support of the opposition, turned the occasion into an-anti-government protest. They streamed into the holy city of Qom for the funeral rites for Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, who died yesterday aged 87.

Opposition websites reported clashes outside Montazeri's home between security forces and mourners, who threw stones. Iranian authorities barred foreign media from covering the funeral, and witnesses would not be identified for fear of arrest.

Marchers held aloft black-rimmed portraits of Montazeri and green banners and wristbands in a powerful show of support for the Green Movement of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, who attended the funeral with another prominent protest leader, Mahdi Karroubi.

Video footage on the web showed the crowds chanting and beating their chests in a sign of mourning.

Montazeri's body was carried around the city's main shrine several times then taken to a nearby cemetery for burial alongside his son, who died in the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Security forces clashed with mourners shouting slogans outside Montazeri's house, and some protesters threw stones, an opposition website reported. A number of mourners were reportedly arrested.

Montazeri's death has placed Tehran in a difficult position. Authorities were obliged to pay respects to one of the patriarchs of the 1979 Islamic Revolution and the one-time heir apparent to Ayatollah Khomeini.

But they worried that Montazeri's memory could become a new focal point for opposition demonstrations.

Montazeri, one of Shia Islam's most repected figures, was a stern critic of the government, and had called Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election as president this year a fraud.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei praised Grand Ayatollah Montazeri but said he hoped God would forgive him for failing his "crucial test".

The White House said he had been "known and internationally respected for his unwavering commitment to universal rights".