(CNN) The Iranian government has banned the families of protesters killed during anti-government unrest in November from organizing any kind of funeral service or memorial for their children or loved ones.

Despite that, families took their grief to cemeteries across Iran on Thursday in a bid to honor their family members 40 days after their deaths.

Eyewitnesses told CNN that several people were arrested by Iranian authorities in Behesht-e-Sakineh cemetery in Karaj, about 60 kilometers (37 miles) northwest of the capital Tehran.

Poya Bakhtiatri, 27, died during a protest in Iran.

Poya Bakhtiatri's family and friends tried to visit his grave at the cemetery to mourn the 40th day of his death, but the ceremony was interrupted by government plainclothes forces and a helicopter flying over the cemetery to disrupt.

Poya, 27, was hit by a bullet during a November 16 demonstration in Mehrshahr, a district of Karaj, his mother, Nahid Shirpisheh, told the Center for Human Rights in Iran. She told the CHRI she believes government forces shot him

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