The French converged by the thousands in the rain Sunday at the Invalides to salute the memory of Jacques Chirac, who died Thursday at age 86, during a large tribute popular before the official ceremonies Monday. Queuing for some since early morning, these anonymous began to scroll shortly after 14 hours in front of the coffin of Jacques Chirac, placed at the entrance of the Cathedral Saint-Louis des Invalides.
The coffin had left Sunday shortly before 1 pm in convoy the Parisian home of Jacques Chirac, rue de Tournon, crossing the city under the greetings of hundreds of Parisians. Opening the ceremony, representatives of the cults sang a prayer, alongside the Chirac family, including his daughter Claude and his grandson Martin, but without his wife Bernadette, too weakened.
"When we are in front of the coffin, it's something"
The French followed each other in front of the coffin. Some had a goodbye hand, others a sign of the cross, others a selfie, in front of the body covered with blue, white, red and surrounded by French and European flags, under a giant portrait of the former president. Among them, politicians like Philippe Douste-Blazy and Alain Madelin, but also citizens of all ages like Michel, stayed a long time before the photo of the former president. "When we are in front of the coffin, it's something," he says at the microphone of Europe 1, claiming to feel "a lot of emotion, and a great sadness". "It's a part of my youth going away," he explains. For his part, Edgar, 19, signed the condolence register. "I wrote: 'sincere condolences and deep respect for the presidential stature'", he tells the microphone of Europe 1.
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A booklet of about ten pages entitled "Jacques Chirac by his words", prepared by the family, was distributed to the audience. His speech of Vel 'd'Hiv in 1995, that of his victory in the second round of the presidential election in 2002, that of the Earth Summit the same year, and still his goodbye to the French in 2007 were diffused, with a continuation from Bach in interlude.
"Pay homage to our last great president"
The queue, impressive, extended in the middle of the afternoon on hundreds and hundreds of meters. And some, like Samuel, had come a long way. The 20-year-old law student came specially from Nancy to greet the former president on behalf of his grandmother. "I always promised myself to come to Paris the day Chirac passed away," he says, seeing Chirac as a "model". Hélène, on the contrary, belongs to a generation that knew Jacques Chirac well. "He was a solar man," she recalls, praising "her charm, her charisma". "He was a great president, a great mayor of Paris", still judge this Parisienne for 40 years. "I wanted to pay tribute to our last great president."
Militant from the first hour for the former president, Monique, she has already waited nearly 3 hours. "I had followed her during all her meetings," she told Europe 1, recalling "an excellent orator with a lot of humanity", who "spoke with her heart", or "a symbol of peace".
© Philippe LOPEZ / AFP
In the evening, there were still many to wait, sheltered under an umbrella. If necessary, the Hotel des Invalides will remain open all night, until 07 hours maximum, to prepare the official ceremony of Monday, said the Elysee.
Tributes continue Monday, thirty heads of state present
On Monday, tributes must continue with a national day of mourning to follow Monday. A solemn service chaired by Emmanuel Macron will be held at 12 o'clock in the Saint-Sulpice church in Paris, in the presence of former presidents François Hollande, Nicolas Sarkozy and Valéry Giscard d'Estaing. Some 30 heads of state will also be present, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker, German Presidents Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Italian Sergio Mattarella and Congolese Denis Sassou Nguesso, Prime Minister Belgian Charles Michel, or Lebanese Prime Ministers Saad Hariri and Hungarian Viktor Orban. Among former leaders of Jacques Chirac's time will come former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and former Senegalese President Abdou Diouf.
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On Monday, tributes must continue with a national day of mourning to follow Monday. A solemn service chaired by Emmanuel Macron will be held at 12 o'clock in the Saint-Sulpice church in Paris, in the presence of former presidents François Hollande, Nicolas Sarkozy and Valéry Giscard d'Estaing. Some 30 heads of state will also be present, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker, German Presidents Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Italian Sergio Mattarella and Congolese Denis Sassou Nguesso, Prime Minister Belgian Charles Michel, or Lebanese Prime Ministers Saad Hariri and Hungarian Viktor Orban. Among former leaders of Jacques Chirac's time will come former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and former Senegalese President Abdou Diouf.
The French political class will also be widely represented. If Marine Le Pen had initially announced its presence, the president of the National Rally has finally given up to go to Saint-Sulpice Church, while the family of Jacques Chirac had expressed reservations about the presence of the daughter of Jean-Marie Le Pen, whom Jacques Chirac had faced in the second round of the 2002 presidential election.