Huge crowd attends funeral procession for Iranian President, FM

Tehran, May 21 (IANS/DPA) Funeral ceremonies have begun in Iran for President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and other victims of the helicopter crash.

On Tuesday, thousands of government supporters flocked to the ceremony in the north-western city of Tabriz to bid farewell, state media reported.

Tabriz is the capital of East Azerbaijan province, where the accident occurred.

Videos shared by Iranian news agencies showed crowds of people under cloudy skies and an open lorry carrying coffins adorned with flowers driving slowly through the streets.

The crowds jostled around the lorry as people tried to lay their hands on the casket belonging to Raisi and other victims. According to the Tasnim agency, Interior Minister Ahmad Wahidi was in the crowd.

Further mourning ceremonies are planned in the religious stronghold and pilgrimage city of Qom, as well as in the capital, Tehran.

Raisi is to be buried on Thursday in the Shiite centre of his home town of Mashhad, at the shrine of Imam Reza, the eighth imam of Shia Islam.

Raisi and Amirabdollahian were killed in a helicopter crash with seven other occupants. They went down in dense fog in the mountains while travelling back from a meeting with Ilham Aliyev, the President of Azerbaijan.