Iranians Protest at Religious Leader's Funeral, Largest Anti-Regime Rally in Years

A funeral for Iranian dissident cleric Ayatollah Jalaledin Taheri turned into an all-out protest, Tuesday, when tens of thousands of mourners flooded the streets of the city of Isfahan, calling for the release of political prisoners.

"Death to the dictator!" demonstrators chanted-a reference to Iran's leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei-while holding up banners. They had initially gathered at Taheri's funeral to commemorate the religious figure's death, but quickly shifted the massive congregation into an anti-government rally.

Taheri was the city's former Friday Prayers leader, according to Radio Free Europe. He was also a skeptic of the nation's clerical establishment, and criticized Iranian hard-liners, who were uncompromising in their conservative views. Taheri died Sunday at age 87.

Local media reported that anti-government chants started in Isfahan-located about 200 miles south from capital city Tehran-during Taheri's funeral . Videos from the protest show hoards of demonstrators chanting, "Karrubi and Musavi must be released!" and "Oh Hossein, Mir Hossein!" (See video below).

Mir Hossein Musavi and Mehdi Karrubi are currently under house arrest for leading opposition groups against the Iranian government. Both Musavi-a former prime minster and presidential candidate and Karrubi- also a former presidential candidate and parliament speaker-were quickly ousted from the running because of their political stances. They have been closely watched by the regime since February 2011.

The protest came just 10 days before Iran's national elections, scheduled for June 14. All candidates-who have each been approved by Tehran's Guardian Council as per Iranian election standards-are staunchly conservative.

Tuesday's demonstration surprised many authorities who claimed they had not seen this kind of anti-regime rally in years.

Sir Richard Dalton, Britain's ambassador to Iran from 2002-2006 told The Independent authorities did not try to stop the mass of protesters, with good reason.

"This was a surprise in the sense that any sort of demonstration that is not repressed by the regime is a rarity," he said. "Though one can quite see why the police in this instance would not want to wade in. It was probably a very sensible decision: the situation could have been the spark for others to come out on to the streets."