1 Million in Tehran Mourn Khomeini on First Anniversary of His Death

More than 1 million mourners on Monday gathered around the gold-domed tomb of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to mark the first anniversary of his death, some beating their chests in grief.

“Death To America!” blared loudspeakers around the compound. “Death To Israel!”

Inside the packed shrine, mourners listened as speakers recited verses from the Koran, the Islamic holy book. The gray-bearded Khomeini seemed to stare sternly at the crowd from pictures hung on the pillars.

“While There Is Islam, We Will Not Forget The Imam” read one banner. Khomeini was considered to be Iran’s supreme leader and the inspiration for the Islamic revolution that overtook his nation in 1979.

Some in the crowd, including a group of Pakistanis, beat their chests in a traditional sign of mourning as others sat under makeshift tents.

The event, which climaxed a four-day mourning period, brought a gathering of up to 3 million people around the shrine at Behesht-e-Zahra cemetery on the outskirts of Tehran, according to foreign reporters who flew over the scene in helicopters.

Iran’s official news media, however, said the occasion drew 8 million to 9 million people.

When Khomeini’s death at age 86 was announced June 4, 1989, the day after he died, millions poured into the streets, pounding themselves, scratching their faces and beating their chests in grief.

Monday’s events were a replay of those scenes. Hundreds of people, many of them conscripts or civil servants who had been ordered to attend, walked for days to arrive at the tomb.