Although the police mostly stayed clear of the funeral, there were some skirmishes between protesters and the Basij militia. Also on 21 December, inside the Qom shrine where Montazeri’s body was laid to rest, opposition activists gathered and chanted “Death to the dictator.” When one group of pro-government basiji militiamen came toward them, chanting “Death to the hypocrites,” the crowd changed to an anti-basiji slogan. Then they took out money, offering it to the basiji, and chanted that they were acting as paid mercenaries of the government: “Where is the oil money? Spent on the Basiji,” and “Basij’s great pride, rape in prison.” On the same day, Mir-Hossein Mousavi stepped out from the compound of Grand Ayatollah Saanei, a fellow reformist, to cross the street to Montazeri’s house in Qom. At that moment, a group of 30 bearded men, holding Montazeri pictures to blend into the crowd, dropped the portraits, started attacking Mousavi and shouted “death to the hypocrite.” The former candidate had to be hustled quickly into the Montazeri compound. The same thing happened when cleric Mehdi Karroubi stepped into the street. This time, groups of reformists were ready and pushed back the vigilantes, so that Karroubi could pass.