- Men and women dressed in black chadors filled Mashhad Boulevard.
- Raisi posters and black flags placed on the streets of Mashhad.
- Raisi was buried at the shrine of Imam Reza after days of funeral rites.
TEHRAN: Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was laid to rest on Thursday, concluding days of funeral rites attended by crowds of mourners following his death in a helicopter crash, state media reported.
Hundreds of thousands marched in his hometown of Mashhad to say goodbye to Raisi before his burial, following processions in the cities of Tabriz, Qom, Tehran and Birjand.
The 63-year-old died on Sunday along with his foreign minister and six others after their helicopter crashed in the country's mountainous northwest while returning from the inauguration of a dam on the border with Azerbaijan.
After the five days of public mourning announced on Monday, authorities, including the acting president, Mohammad Mokhber, will focus on organizing elections for a new president scheduled for June 28.
Men and women, mostly dressed in black chadors and holding white flowers, filled the main boulevard of Mashhad, the Islamic republic's second city in the northeast, where Raisi was born.
Some held banners honoring Raisi as the “man of the battlefield” as a large truck carrying his body passed through the sea of mourners.
“I have come, O king, give me shelter,” read a slogan emblazoned on top of the truck, referring to Imam Reza.
Raisi posters, black flags and symbols were erected along the streets of Mashhad, particularly around Raisi's final resting place: the shrine of Imam Reza, a key mausoleum visited by millions of pilgrims each year.
Earlier, thousands of people holding images of Raisi and waving flags lined the streets of Birjand, capital of the eastern province of South Khorasan, for the procession of Raisi's coffin.
Raisi was South Khorasan's representative in the Assembly of Experts, a clerical body charged with selecting or removing Iran's supreme leader.
