Tens of thousands march in Shiite cleric's funeral

Tens of thousands are gathering south of Beirut for the mass funeral of Lebanon's top Shiite cleric and one of the sect's most revered religious authorities.

The government declared Tuesday a national day of mourning for Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, 75, who died Sunday after a long illness. State institutions, schools and universities were closed.

In Beirut's southern suburb of Haret Hreik, crowds dressed in black and carrying portraits of the late ayatollah gathered outside his house to accompany the coffin to the mosque for burial.

Seen by some as a spiritual mentor to the Hezbollah militant movement and by others as a voice of pragmatism and religious moderation, Fadlallah's following stretched beyond Lebanon's borders to Iraq, the Gulf and central Asia.