The turnout -- at least several hundred thousand and possibly as large as one million -- should be extremely troubling to the regime. That a crowd this large materialized, despite intimidation, censorship, and roadblocks, to mourn a cleric who recently questioned Khamenei's Islamic credentials, is as good of an indicator as the regime could have asked for on its perceived legitimacy. The mixture of mourning ceremony with political demonstration was also explicit, complete with green wristbands, banners and chants of "Death to Khamenei." (Apparently "dictator" is becoming increasingly euphemistic for the opposition.) Also noteworthy is that the ceremony was held in Qom, some 120 kilometers from Tehran's eight million people.Today's incredible outpouring comes just two days after the embarrassing turnout the state-sanctioned demonstrations marking the first day of Moharram produced. All eyes are now on December 27th, which is both the holy day of Ashura (for which demonstrations were already ready being planned) and now also seven days following Montazeri's death, a significant day of mourning in Shia Islam. As these events have gone to form 'the perfect storm,' the day is also shaping up to be the most daunting challenge the regime will have faced since June's unprecedented uprising.
UPDATE: Via Enduring America, this stunning footage from yesterday:
