"Vast crowds have gathered in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka for the state funeral of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, with mourners travelling from across the country to bid farewell to a towering political leader. Footage showed huge crowds streaming in towards the national parliament building on Manik Mia Avenue, where her coffin, draped in the national flag, was taken in a convoy on Wednesday."
"Reporting from outside parliament in Dhaka, Al Jazeera's Tanvir Chowdhury said emotions were high among the huge crowds gathered for the state funeral. Many people are weeping, he said. People were coming from all across the country to gather here. They said we have to come to show that she will be missed. Mourners had described her as a great leader for this country, saying she had shown us the way to democracy, he said. An entire nation is grieving, he added."
Vast crowds filled Dhaka's Manik Mia Avenue as Khaleda Zia's flag-draped coffin arrived at the national parliament for a state funeral. Hundreds of thousands of supporters and visiting dignitaries from India and Pakistan attended, while about 10,000 security personnel lined streets to maintain order. Khaleda Zia died aged 79 after a prolonged illness and had been Bangladesh's first woman prime minister in 1991. Bangladesh observed three days of state mourning and world leaders paid tribute. Mourners wept and described her as an inspiration and a figurehead of the country's democratic movement, noting her policies supporting girls' education.
Read at www.aljazeera.com
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