Hundreds of thousands of mourners participated in this year’s eternal ritual of ‘Twereej Run’ amid tight security, heath and service measures.

The annual massive procession was launched after noon prayers on the day of Ashura, the day in which Imam Hussein, his family and companions were martyred in the 680 AD Battle of Karbala.

“The old city’s streets as well as the holy shrines were crowded with mourners,” said a reporter of Imam Hussein Holy Shrine, mentioning that the shrines worked in collaboration with the local authorities in providing all security, service and health requirements of the ritual.

Meanwhile, thousands of volunteers were deployed around the city in addition to the 20 thousand employees of the two holy shrines providing the required services for the pilgrims.

Sayyid Saleh al-Qazwini initiated the ritual of ‘Twereej Run’ in 1885 from the city of Twereej, where the run originally started. Nowadays, the run starts at Qantara al-Salam and goes into the holy shrines of Imam Hussein and al-Abbas.