HUGE crowds of fans have been paying their final respects to football legend Diego Maradona in the Argentine capital Buenos Aires.
Thousands filed past the footballer’s coffin, weeping, blowing kisses and praying. Later people lined the streets as his funeral cortege passed by.
But there were tense scenes as police tried to control unruly crowds.
Three days of national mourning have begun after the national hero died of a heart attack on Wednesday aged 60.
Maradona’s coffin – draped in Argentina’s national flag and football shirt, bearing his trademark number 10 on the back – was on public display at the presidential palace yesterday.
But by mid-afternoon queues stretched back for more than a kilometre and police clashed with mourners as they tried to close off the palace in anticipation of the wake scheduled for 16:00hrs local time (19:00 GMT).
There were reports of tear gas being used as officers in riot gear struggled to hold back the crowd.
One well-wisher, Rubén Hernández, thought the police had overreacted.
“We were calm lining up and suddenly, the police started to fire rubber bullets,” he said, quoted by Reuters news agency. “Crazy, I just want to say goodbye to Diego.”
The authorities then extended access to the casket for a couple more hours. After that the motorised funeral cortege set out for the Bella Vista cemetery on the outskirts of the city.
Maradona’s family and former teammates took part in a private ceremony earlier in the day.
‘He was everything for us’
Meanwhile at the Italian club Napoli, where Maradona played for seven years and was assigned God-like status, fans flocked to the stadium to pay their respects chanting “Diego, Diego!”
It is the second day people have defied a coronavirus lockdown to pay tribute, ahead of Napoli’s closed-door Europa League fixture against the Croatian team Rijeka.
He was unique, he represented everything, everything for us Neapolitans,” fan Gianni Autiero told Reuters. “I have cried for only a few people in my life, and Diego is one of them.” (BBC Sport)
