Tens of thousands of mourners Wednesday chanted support for Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's interim successor, Ali Khamenei, at a memorial service for the revolutionary patriarch at Tehran University.
Iranian new reports said almost 11,000 had been injured during the demonstrations of national grief since Khomeini died on Saturday night.Tehran radio quoted an unidentified health official as saying "many died," but no number was given. Eight deaths were reported on Monday.
News reports said 438 people had been taken to hospitals.
Carrying black flags and portraits of the imam, or spiritual leader, Wednesday's crowds at Tehran University chanted "The imam is in heaven today" and "Better we were dead and you were here with us."
The 86-year-old Khomeini, who turned Iran into a fundamentalist Islamic state after the overthrow of a 2,500-year-old monarchy in 1979, died of a heart attack Saturday. He had undergone intestinal surgery 11 days earlier.
Wednesday's memorial service was held at the site of a weekly prayer service. Attending were Parliament speaker Hashemi Rafsanjani, Prime Minister Hussein Musavi, Chief Justice Musavi Ardebili, Khomeini's son Ahmad, and Khamenei.
Khamenei, Iran's president, was named caretaker leader on Sunday, winning 60 of 74 votes cast by the Assembly of Experts. Khomeini had formed the group to handle his succession.
"Obedience to Khamenei is obedience to the imam of Ummah (The Islamic nation)," the crowd chanted.
After the ceremony, many people beat themselves rhythmically on the head in a traditional gesture of grief by Shiite Moslems.
Many fainted in the heat. They were lifted above the crowd and passed overhead to stretchers that took them to first-aid stations.
However, life was gradually returning to normal a day after the city was convulsed with grief during the funeral of Khomeini.
Shops reopened Wednesday with long lines for bread and other supplies. Heavy traffic also reappeared on the streets; private cars carried black flags and portraits of Khomeini on their windshields.
Also Wednesday, the official Islamic Republic news agency reported that Ayatollah Hussein Ali Montazeri, whom Khomeini removed as his designated successor in March, visited Khomeini's grave in Beheshte Zehra cemetery.
The news agency said the cemetery was still mobbed with people paying their respects at the grave.