Thousands of people across Vietnam paid their final respects to Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, the most powerful leader the country has seen in decades, ahead of his funeral ceremony and burial.
The 80-year-old, who died in hospital in the capital Hanoi last week, led the party since 2011 and oversaw a high-profile anticorruption drive that swept through the party, police, armed forces and business.
On Friday, people wearing black queued in the capital, Hanoi, to see the leader before he was buried at Mai Dich Cemetery, the final resting place for many senior leaders in Vietnam.
Images on social media showed his hearse being paraded through the streets of the capital before the burial.
Trong’s coffin, draped in the red and yellow of Vietnam’s flag, was laid beneath his smiling portrait and dozens of medals at the National Funeral House in Hanoi since Thursday.
At least 210,000 people paid their respects to their leader at ceremonies in Hanoi, southern Ho Chi Minh City and his village on the outskirts of the capital, authorities said.
Top Communist Party officials paid tribute, including President To Lam, who took over as caretaker general secretary a day before Trong’s death was announced.
South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo; Wang Huning, the fourth-ranked leader in the Chinese Communist Party; former Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga; and Cuban National Assembly President Esteban Lazo Hernandez were also among those in attendance during a ceremony on Thursday.
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