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The crowd is waiting for the ceremony of homage to President Jacques Chirac, September 29, 2019 in front of the Cathedral Saint-Louis-des-Invalides. AFP / Philippe Lopez

" All those who loved it will be able to come ": many French people are gathered, this Sunday, September 29 in early afternoon, the Invalides before the coffin of President Jacques Chirac, died Thursday at age 86, before a day of national mourning on Monday.

This article is regularly updated,

This Sunday, September 29, the coffin of the former head of state, who left shortly before 1 pm in his home convoy Rue de Tournon where he died last Thursday morning, arrived at the Invalides a few minutes later . There, the coffin is installed at the entrance of the Cathedral Saint-Louis des Invalides, where thousands of people are expected all afternoon.

A booklet of about ten pages entitled Jacques Chirac by his words , prepared by the family, is distributed to the audience, said his son-in-law, Mr. Salat-Baroux. " You love him, respect him. He was part of your youth, of the idea that you make of France. He was the big brother, the father, the imaginary friend. Let's try to find him through his words, "he wrote in the preamble. 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 will be diffused, with a continuation of Bach in interlude.

National mourning on Monday

A day of national mourning will follow Monday, September 30th. A solemn service chaired by Emmanuel Macron will be held at 12 pm in the Saint-Sulpice church in Paris, in the presence of former presidents François Hollande, Nicolas Sarkozy and Valéry Giscard d'Estaing. The assistance will match the flow of messages from around the world since Thursday noon: among the thirty heads of state, will be present Russian President Vladimir Putin, the President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker, German Presidents Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Italian Sergio Mattarella and Congolese Denis Sassou Nguesso, Belgian Prime Minister 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.

( with AFP )