Four days later, a procession set off to protest his death.
As the procession set off along Royce Road, Viraj ran into the Church of the Ascension.
The funeral procession set off from the Mandigak Palace, the governor of Kandahar's residence, to a burial plot in Dand district at 7am local time on Wednesday.
After leaving Place de la Nation at around 11am, thousands of high school students walked down Boulevard Voltaire brandishing signs saying, "Night is for fucking, not for working," and "Voldemort himself would have said no [to the labor law]." Minutes after the procession set off, a small group of people joined the protest and started vandalizing storefronts along the way.
The attack during the Shiite religious procession last month set off rioting in parts of the city and prompted fears that predominantly Sunni Muslim extremist groups were now trying to foment sectarian violence against the country's minority Shiites.
As the hundred-odd drummers play beautiful haunting rhythms, doves are released into the air to mark the start of the procession, and as the band sets off up the hill on their way into town, what feels like the whole neighbourhood, from toddlers to grandmothers, follows in their wake, swaying from side to side.
"Welcome to the world's shortest pilgrimage" announced James, the vicar, as the procession prepared to set off from the church of St John the Baptist in the Wilderness.
Overheating sets off sweating.
"There's part of me that is still saying, 'Did this really happen?' " said Mayor Virgil W. Murray, who along with his grandchildren had completed the route on a fire truck near the lead of the 70-float procession when the troubles set off near the end.
