Gone were the faux Hermès headscarves of Tehran’s fashionistas. Amid the silent wave of 100,000 Iranians marching across central Tehran for a fifth day, the women wore black.

It was a symbolic expression of grief for the seven young men killed on Monday night as they left a huge rally in support of the defeated presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi.

“I am wearing a black hijab to show my mourning for the innocents who were killed by the regime,” said Soheila, 21. “We don’t accept this vote. We are not stupid people like these mullahs think.” Her make-up was impeccable — her eyes lined in green, the colour of Mr Mousavi’s campaign — and in earlier days she protested wearing designer clothes. “I have come to the demonstrations every day and I will come back every day until we have a new election,” she said.

Many in the crowd expressed shock and anger at the deaths. Some carried a photograph of one of the men being carried away, his head thrown back in death, his white shirt red with blood.

The difference was palpable. Previously the marches were a sea of colour and chanting crowds, the mood often festive. Yesterday almost all of the women wore black and the entire march was silent as people walked the three miles from Haft-e Tir (7th of July) Square to Vali Asr Square in the heart of the city. The procession filled the four-lane highway.

The demonstrators held up placards, reading “Basiji, don’t kill your brothers” and “Where is my vote?”. The only colour was Mr Mousavi’s campaign green, in bracelets, headbands, streamers and balloons waved in the hot summer afternoon.

“It’s not my usual dress, but I wore the black hijab to express my sorrow for the youths that were killed,” said Mahnaz, a housewife, with a sad smile. “I’ve come every day to protest against the life we have. What kind of country is this? They insult women with this stupid moral police who act like criminals themselves.”

Behind her, a shopkeeper who had pulled down his metal shutter contradicted her, saying that the protesters were paid by foreign powers. “Oh, stop your foolishness,” she said, clearly emboldened by the sense of freedom the protests have created among those who only weeks ago would have been afraid to speak out. “This ridiculous show has been going on for 30 years and we want it to end.”

At that point two members of the secret police approached. They infiltrate all the demonstrations, although it is hard to see why as no one covers their faces. But they still have power, and foreign journalists are banned from reporting outside their hotel rooms, so we all moved off.

The historic resonance of the mourning of protesters’ deaths will not be lost on Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader, and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the incumbent hardline President, who claims to have won a landslide victory despite all polls and expectations.

In the 1979 revolution, street demonstrations swelled as protesters took to the streets to mourn a fallen comrade and suffered losses when the Shah’s forces fired on them, creating a bloody cycle that led to his overthrow by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

There are other parallels with 1979 in the biggest upheaval in Iran since the overthrow of the Shah and the establishment of the Islamic Republic. Every night at 10pm protesters go out on their rooftops or lean out of windows to yell, “Allahu Akbar [God is great]”, as they did at the request of Ayatollah Khomeini from exile in Paris. And some protesters yesterday were carrying white flowers to give to soldiers or police, as their forebears did in 1979.

The police, however, disappear in the face of these huge numbers. They return at night, beating and in several cases shooting Mousavi supporters on the street.

Mr Mousavi said on his website: “In the course of the past days and as a consequence of illegal and violent encounters with people protesting against the outcome of the presidential election, a number of our countrymen were killed or wounded.”

He is riding the wave, although now the protests have as much to do with the demonstrators’ desire to get rid of Mr Ahmadinejad as they do with support for his opponent. Mr Mousavi has refused to accept the unprecedented offer of a recount from the 12-member Guardian Council, a non-elected group of senior clerics appointed by Ayatollah Khamenei that is charged with overseeing the election. He is holding out for an annulment of the results and a new election.

The regime shows no sign of backing down. About 100 members of the reform movement have been arrested since the election. But the protesters are not flinching either. “We will be on the streets until we have the government we voted for,” said Mahnaz, the housewife.

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