 |
| here were emotional scenes as Vaclav Havel's coffin passed through Prague |
Thousands of people have accompanied the coffin of late Czech leader Vaclav Havel en route to Prague Castle where he will lie in state.
The procession marks the start of three official days of mourning for Havel, who died on Sunday aged 75.
Many applauded as the hearse carrying the dissident playwright, who led the 1989 overthrow of communism, passed through Prague's historic centre.
A state funeral for the first Czech president is to take place on Friday.
Royal route
Havel's coffin was carried in a hearse, followed by members of his family and an estimated 10,000 people, many dressed in black.
"Mr Havel was a model of a man who longs to live in truth and in harmony with his inner conscience, and who is not afraid to suffer
AT THE SCENE
This is a country in mourning for the first post-Communist president of the Czech Republic.
In the city's medieval centre, a crowd of mourners followed up the steep hill, many more people stood by the side, watching the procession go by.
Many are still struggling to come to terms with Havel's death. Local people have told me that he was unique and that they felt he will always be their president.
He was, they say, the man who led the demonstrations in November 1989 and then led the country back to Europe.
Many towns and cities have already asked to name squares and streets after him.
for that," Jaroslav Mino, who came from eastern Slovakia for the event, told Agence France Presse.
The procession through the heart of the medieval Old Town followed what is known as the Royal Route - used by kings and emperors for centuries.
At the barracks of the Castle Guard, the coffin was draped in the Czech flag and placed on a gun carriage drawn by six horses accompanied by soldiers in ceremonial uniform for the short journey to Prague Castle.
It now lies inside the 15th-century Vladislav Hall.
Vaclav Havel
________________________________________________________________________
- Born in 1936 to a wealthy family in Czechoslovakia
- Considered "too bourgeois" by communist government, studied at night school
- Writing banned and plays forced underground after the 1968 Prague Spring
- In 1977, co-authored the Charter 77 movement for democratic change
- Faced constant harassment and imprisonment as Czechoslovakia's most famous dissident
- Czechoslovakia's first post-communist president in December 1989
- Oversaw transition to democracy, and 1993 division into the Czech Republic and Slovakia
- Left office in 2003 and continued writing, publishing a new play in 2008 and directing first film in 2011
- _________________________________________________________________________________
Friday's funeral, at St Vitus Cathedral in Prague, will be the Czech Republic's first state funeral since independence and is expected to be attended by dignitaries from around the world.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, whose husband, Bill, visited a jazz club as president with the late Czech leader in 1994, is expected to attend, as is the Czech-born former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.
Heads of state or government from France, Germany, Israel and Austria and leaders from across eastern Europe, including Georgia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Lithuania are also expected to attend.
Vaclav Havel became president of Czechoslovakia in 1989 after the fall of communism. When Slovakia split in 1993, he remained Czech leader until 2003.
Having suffered from respiratory problems for many years, he died on Sunday at his country home in Hradecek, north-east of Prague, where he was being looked after by his wife Dagmar Havlova.
He had suffered "circulatory failure, the result of all health problems he had experienced, starting with pneumonia he had suffered from in prison", his doctor Tomas Bouzek told Czech media.
Havel had part of a lung removed during cancer surgery in the 1990s.
This summer he had moved to his country home for health reasons, returning briefly to the capital to meet Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama earlier this month.
One report said the former dissident had died after making plans with his wife for a quiet Christmas party.
No comments:
Post a Comment