Tens of thousands of Iranians gathered early this Wednesday morning in the center of Tehran to pay their last respects to the Iranian president Ibrahim Raisi, who was killed on Sunday in a helicopter crash, state television reported.

Holding portraits of the late president and Iranian flags, the crowd gathered around Tehran’s university.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is leading the 9:00 am (local time, 08:30 GMT) funeral procession for Raishi and the seven other people – among them Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdolahian-– who were killed in the accident.

Today is the day has been declared a holiday and the residents of Tehran received messages on their mobile phones inviting them to “attend the funeral of the martyr”.

After the prayer, a procession will take place to Engelab Square, in the center of the Iranian capital.

Several countries—among them Russia, Turkey, and Iraq—have sent representatives for the funeral, but not at the head of state level. The head of the Palestinian movement Hamas, Mr Ismail Haniya, will attend the ceremony, as will Hezbollah’s second-in-command Naim Qassem.

Iranian authorities have declared five days of mourning across the country.

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Commemorations for Raisi began yesterday, Tuesday, in Tabriz, the city near the crash site, and are due to last until tomorrow, Thursday.

The eight coffins, draped in the Iranian flag, were taken from Tabriz to the holy city of Qom, south of the capital, where a huge crowd attended the ceremony.

Many and huge portraits of the “martyr” Ebrahim Raisi have been placed on public buildings in the largest cities of Iran.

After Wednesday’s procession in the capital, Raisi’s remains will be taken to South Khorasan province before being taken to his hometown of Mashhad in the northeast.

He will be laid to rest on Thursday afternoon in the city after the funeral at Imam Reza shrine.

Iran