Cameron, Clinton and Sarkozy at funeral of Czech Republic's first democratically elected president after Velvet Revolution
Czechs and world leaders have paid an emotional tribute to V�clav Havel at a pomp-filled funeral ceremony, ending a week of public grief and nostalgia over the death of the dissident playwright who led the 1989 revolution that ended four decades of communist rule.
Church bells tolled while a wailing siren brought the country to a standstill in a minute of silence for the nation's first democratically elected president after the nonviolent Velvet Revolution.
Havel's wife, Dagmar, family members, friends and leaders from dozens of countries gathered on Friday at the towering, gothic St Vitus Cathedral, which overlooks Prague. The US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and Britain's prime minister, David Cameron, were among some 1,000 mourners who bowed their heads in front of the coffin draped in the Czech colours.
In a message read at the funeral by the Vatican's former diplomatic representative in Prague, Pope Benedict XVI praised Havel. "Remembering how courageously Mr Havel defended human rights at a time when these were systematically denied to the people of your country, and paying tribute to his visionary leadership in forging a new democratic polity after the fall of the previous regime, I give thanks to God for the freedom that the people of the Czech Republic now enjoy," he said.
At the end of the ceremony, Havel's coffin was to be carried through the cathedral's Golden Gate to Strasnice crematorium for a private family funeral. The urn with Havel's ashes will be buried at his family's plot at the city's Vinohrady cemetery alongside his first wife, Olga, who died in 1996.
Havel, whose final term in office ended in 2003, died on Sunday morning in his sleep at his weekend home in the country's north. The 75-year-old former chain-smoker had a history of chronic respiratory problems dating back to his time in prison.
Since his death, Czechs have gathered spontaneously to lay flowers and light candles at key historic sites such as the monument to the 1989 Velvet Revolution in downtown Prague, and at Wenceslas Square, where Havel once spoke before hundreds of thousands of people to express outrage at the repressive communist regime.
Similar scenes of remembrance played out across the country ? in a show of emotion not seen since the 1937 funeral of Tomas Garrigue Masaryk, Czechoslovakia's first president after the nation was founded in 1918.
"Europe owes V�clav Havel a profound debt," Cameron said before leaving London. "Havel led the Czech people out of tyranny ? and he helped bring freedom and democracy to our entire continent."
Czechs packed a nearby courtyard at Prague Castle and an adjacent square to watch the funeral ceremony on giant screens.
"He was our star. He gave us democracy," said Iva Buckova, 51, who had travelled from the western city of Plzen. "He led us through revolution. We came to see him for the last time."
Prague's archbishop, Dominik Duka, who spent time in jail with Havel under communism, was leading the funeral mass. He was joined by the Vatican envoy Giovanni Coppa and bishop V�clav Maly, Havel's friend and fellow dissident. Poland's former president Lech Walesa ? who led the anti-communist Solidarity movement ? also attended.
The Czech president, V�clav Klaus, who was Havel's political arch rival, and two friends ? the foreign minister, Karel Schwarzenberg, and the former US secretary of state Madeleine Albright ? were to pay tribute to Havel at the cathedral, which dates back to the 10th century and has not witnessed a state funeral since 1875.
The Czech Philharmonic Orchestra performed parts of Requiem by the Czech composer Antonin Dvorak during the ceremony.
Braving the freezing cold, thousands of mourners have waited in long lines every day since Monday to file past Havel's coffin.
Several thousand people joined Havel's widow, relatives and friends in a sombre procession through the capital on Wednesday as Havel's body was transported to Prague Castle.
In his final years, Havel made only occasional public appearances, and would often say that he had insufficient time to resume his literary work.
The director of the theatre where he began as a stagehand in 1958 before becoming a playwright ? and where he said he spent the best eight years of his life ? told AP he had started work on one last play this year. It was to be called Sanatorium.
"He may be able to finish it in heaven," said the director of Na Zabradli, Doubravka Svobodova.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/dec/23/vaclav-havel-funeral-world-leaders
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