PARIS: The French public on Sunday began bidding a final farewell to late former president Jacques Chirac, fondly remembered as a charismatic giant of domestic and international politics despite a mixed legacy.
Chirac’s death on Thursday aged 86 prompted a flood of tributes to a man whose high-profile political career spanned three decades capped by 12 years as president from 1995-2007.
But it also sparked questions about how much this consummate political operator had actually achieved during a long spell in office and again threw the spotlight on a 2011 conviction for graft over his time as Paris mayor.
Nevertheless, a poll in Le Journal du Dimanche newspaper showed that the French consider him to have been their best president of the modern era, alongside Charles de Gaulle.
Chirac’s coffin was on Sunday placed in the Saint-Louis-des-Invalides cathedral at the Invalides memorial complex in central Paris for the French public to pay their last respects.
An initial multi-faith prayer was held around the coffin with close family, including his daughter Claude, although his wife of six decades Bernadette, 86, was not present.
Members of the public were then allowed in to view the coffin, draped in a French flag and flanked by a picture of a waving Chirac, with hundreds lining up in a queue that wound around the Invalides complex.
Allowed to enter in small groups, some crossed themselves while others took photos and even selfies.
“Chirac represented a certain era,” said Marin Menzin, 21. “If he had seen the queue today, he would have jumped into the crowd to shake hands.”
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The French presidency had since Thursday night thrown open the doors of the Elysee Palace for anyone wanting to write in condolence books. By the time the doors shut on Saturday evening, 5,000 people had done so. Sunday’s events will be followed on Monday by a national day of mourning in France, with a minute of silence to be observed in all public institutions and schools.
The coffin of Chirac will at 0900 GMT on Monday leave the Invalides, under a military escort through the streets of Paris, before arriving at the Saint-Sulpice church for a final memorial service attended by President Emmanuel Macron. — AFP
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