The death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini on June 4 was mourned by millions of his followers with an extravagance that surprised even the Iranian authorities. Time and again, funeral plans were disrupted by gigantic mobs unwilling to give way either to schedules or politicians. The scene in Tehran was one of unrelieved chaos. In the traditional Shiite manner, men pounded their chests and flagellated themselves with chains. Some sacrificed sheep, and some shouted, "We wish we were dead, so not to see our beloved imam dead." Others ran 25 miles to the cemetery. The grave dug for Khomeini's body was occupied by mourners who refused to leave. The authorities appealed to citizens to stay away from Khomeini's house and the cemetery, but to no avail.
Fire trucks sprayed water on mourners in an effort to keep them from fainting in the intensity of the June heat and the press of humanity. According to official sources, some 10,879 people were injured and received on-the-spot medical attention, 438 were taken to hospitals, and 8 died in the crush to view Khomeini's body. In the cemetery, mourners climbed on buses, to catch a better glimpse of the body, and in one case the roof of a bus collapsed, injuring those sitting inside. Ali Khamenei, the president of the republic, could not even reach the special stand set up for dignitaries. Indeed, the stand for state officials and foreign dignitaries almost collapsed under the weight of the crowd.
The height of frenzy occurred at the gravesite itself. Bringing the body by land vehicle was out of the question, so it arrived by helicopter. The first time the helicopter landed, the crowd swarmed in and grabbed pieces of the shroud, causing the corpse actually to fall to the ground. After 15 frantic minutes, the coffin was put back on the helicopter, which then bore the body away. In an attempt to thin out the crowd, it was announced that the funeral had been postponed by a day. The trick worked, as many went home. Then, 6 hours after the first attempt, a second effort at a helicopter landing was made. This time more guards were on hand, and the body was placed in a metal casket. Still, it was not easy. As the Iranian news agency described it: "The grave was only 10 meters away but the pushing and shoving of thousands made it seem like kilometers. It took 10 terrible minutes to be able to put the casket down near the grave." Once the body was finally buried, concrete blocks were placed on top of it.
Clearly, a great number of Iranians lament the death of Khomeini with a deep fervor, but does that mean that Iranians universally approve the system he put into place? Hardly. The fundamentalists, the core of Khomeini's constituency, probably make up 10 percent of the population, which means the vast bulk of the Iranian people find their freedoms unhappily restricted, their wishes ignored, and themselves subject to a wide range of persecutions. In silent testimony to their misery, some three million Iranians have fled the country, and the number is constantly growing.
The hysteria of early June had to do with the death of a unique and irreplaceable leader, not with political attitudes. Twentieth-century history has repeatedly shown that the masses mourn dominant political figures, regardless of their record. Comparable outpourings of grief, after all, attended the deaths of Stalin and Mao Zedong. In each case, many who suffered deluded themselves in blaming evil lieutenants for the atrocities and assumed the leader was in the dark. Some profited
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