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Funeral service for French ex-president Chirac begins
PARIS, Sept 30, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – A funeral service attended by dozens of
world leaders began in Paris on Monday for France’s former president Jacques
Chirac, who died last week aged 86.
President Vladimir Putin of Russia and former US leader Bill Clinton were
among the mourners at Saint-Sulpice church in central Paris as France held a
national day of mourning for its president who served from 1995-2007.
Chirac’s coffin, draped in a French flag, was carried into the church by
his former bodyguards while onlookers applauded outside.
As well as President Emmanuel Macron, other world leaders attending
included Qatar Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani as well as EU commission
chief Jean-Claude Juncker.
Chirac’s widow Bernadette, who is said to be in frail health, attended a
private service earlier but was not present at the main ceremony.
Chirac’s immediate successors, Nicolas Sarkozy and Francois Hollande, were
both present, as, in a rare public appearance, was the third president of
France’s modern Fifth Republic, Valery Giscard d’Estaing, 93.
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen, whose father and former far-right chief
Jean-Marie Le Pen was an arch-foe of Chirac, opted in the end not to attend
after Chirac’s family made known she would not be welcome.
BSS/AFP/RY/1642 hrs