WARSAW, April 17 (AFP) - More than 100,000 Poles massed in Warsaw's historic main square on Saturday for an emotional memorial service to honour president Lech Kaczynski and 95 others who died in an air crash in Russia.
Sirens wailed at 8:56 am (0656 GMT) -- the exact time one week ago when the presidential jet crashed in western Russia -- and again when the service started at noon, bringing cars and pedestrians to a halt in the streets.
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| Soldiers carry the coffin of Polish President Lech Kaczynski outside the Presidential Palace in Warsaw on April 17. AFP |
A huge altar in Pilsudski Square with a giant white cross displayed black and white photographs of all 96 who perished, as an actor solemnly read the name of each victim, starting with Kaczynski and his wife Maria.
Mourners waved red and white Polish flags decked with black ribbons. They applauded Kaczynski's identical twin brother, former premier Jaroslaw, and the couple's daughter Marta as they arrived. Warsaw police estimated the crowd at more than 100,000 people.
The dead also included the country's military chief, the heads of all three armed forces, the governor of the central bank and the boss of its Olympic committee, as well as iconic opponents of Poland's communist-era regime.
After the memorial the closed coffins of the presidential couple, who have been lying in state in the presidential palace since Tuesday, will be taken to nearby St. John's Cathedral for a mass, followed by an overnight vigil.
A military aircraft will take the bodies to the southern city of Krakow early Sunday for the funeral in the cathedral of the hilltop Wawel castle, where Poland's past kings and national heroes are buried. |
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