Millions join funeral procession for Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei

People gather for the funeral procession of Ali Khamenei and his family in Tehran. Photograph: Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty Images View image in fullscreen People gather for the funeral procession of Ali Khamenei and his family in Tehran. Photograph: Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty Images Millions join funeral procession for Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei Crowds swelled through Tehran as mourners dressed in black carried flags proclaiming: ‘We will rise’ A crowd of “millions” assembled on Monday for the funeral procession of Iran’s assassinated supreme leader, Ali Khamenei . The scale and depth of the march, however engineered, represents an extraordinary turnaround for a country that only seven months ago was gripped by street protests at which thousands of people were killed by government security forces. Many will say the assembly was a monument to a misconceived war launched on Iran by Donald Trump in February. The throng – estimated as millions by state media – moved from east to west, through Tehran from Revolution Square to Azadi Square, after the two-day funeral of the supreme leader and members of his family in the Grand Mosalla mosque in Tehran. The mourners wore black clothing and carried flags bearing the slogan “We will rise”; others held aloft the flag of Iran and pictures of Khamenei. 0:41 Millions walk with Ali Khamenei’s coffin in Tehran funeral procession – video The Tehran metro was packed as people attempted to join the march. They chanted: “Mourning is mourning today, mourning day is today. Martyr Khamenei is before God today.” At the funeral on Sunday, “Kill Trump” was chalked on the stage by the mourners who throughout the ceremony expressed a desire for revenge and personal grief. View image in fullscreen Mourners in Ferdowsi Square, Tehran. Photograph: Wakil Kohsar/AFP/Getty Images Khamenei was killed by Israeli bombs in February in an attempt to destabilise and ultimately topple the government. Late on Monday, Khamenei’s body arrived in Qom, where processions will be held on Tuesday before similar events in Shia cities in Iraq. View image in fullscreen A sea of mourners carrying flags surround the truck carrying the bodies of Khamenei and his family. Photograph: Vahid Salemi/AP View image in fullscreen A funeral prayer being performed in Tehran. Photograph: Farnood/Sipa/Shutterstock View image in fullscreen Senior political and military officials at the ceremony. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images On Sunday, the entire Iranian leadership, depleted by successive Israeli assassinations, turned out for the morning prayer with the one exception of the new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of the late supreme leader and now his appointed successor. Iranian officials said Khamenei’s absence was not due to wounds sustained in Israel’s attack on the presidential building but to concerns for his safety. However, his three grieving brothers attended. In a feat of organisation by the state authorities and the volunteer civic army that fed