SYRIA: PRESIDENT ASSAD FUNERAL 8

(13 Jun 2000) Natural Sound
The route along the funeral procession of President Hafez Assad was closed to traffic in the Syrian capital, Damascus.
A sea of mourners - numbering in the tens of thousands - walked the cortege route, chanting and waving placards bearing portraits of Assad.
The mourners began trickling to the site of the funeral procession close to the heart of the capital at first light on Tuesday.
The enormous funeral procession snaked slowly through the streets of Damascus, bearing the body of Assad - the only leader many in this Arab nation have ever known.
A brass band played a funeral dirge as a gun carriage bore the coffin, draped in the black, red and white Syrian flag, through the streets.
Assad's family, including his widow, was brought to the airport in a convoy of cars for the flight to the president's home town of Qardaha, where his burial took place.
A human chain of soldiers linked hands to prevent people from flinging themselves on the coffin.
An one point scores of mourners, overcome with grief, attempted to break through a five-deep security cordon formed by policemen and members of the elite Republican Guard corps.
The troops pushed them back, but not before the mourners brought down part of a fence.
Women shrieked "O Bashar!" - the 34-year-old son Assad had groomed as his heir before his death on Saturday at the age of 69.
The chants of the crowds grew louder and louder, drowning out the sound of prayers broadcast from mosque speakers.
The entire day-long spectacle was carried live on Syrian T-V and throughout much of the Middle East on other Arab channels.
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