Paris (AFP)

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

If between Thursday and Saturday, some 5,000 people have already signed the records of condolences made available in the vestibule of the Elysée, it is with the remains of the former head of state (1995-2007) that the French can go, Sunday from 14:00 to the Hotel des Invalides.

This tribute, in the presence of his family, is related to "the strong relationship that Jacques Chirac had with the French," told AFP his son-in-law Frédéric Salat-Baroux.

In the morning, dozens of people were queuing in the rain, said an AFP journalist. Isabelle Enjuanes, executive secretary of 58 years came especially from Bordeaux. "I almost went to Bordeaux City Hall but it's better to be able to travel to pay a last tribute," she said.

Virginie Ferrera, 48, who works at Air France, came thinking about her father who was in the air force. "They were both real warriors, Chirac prevented the war, I loved that gentleman," she said, moved.

Became more and more popular over time and away from power, it is now considered by the French as the best president of the Fifth Republic, tied with Charles de Gaulle, according to an Ifop poll for the Journal du Sunday, which is registering a jump in popularity.

His coffin will be installed at the entrance of the Cathedral Saint-Louis des Invalides, where thousands of people are expected.

The coffin will be worn by his former security officers at the Elysee. A booklet of about ten pages entitled "Jacques Chirac by his words", prepared by the family, will be distributed to the audience, said Mr. Salat-Baroux.

"You loved him, respected him, he was part of your youth, of your idea of ​​France, he was the big brother, the father, the imaginary friend, let's try to find him through his words ", is it written in the preamble.

A day of national mourning will follow on Monday. A solemn service chaired by Emmanuel Macron will be held at 12.00 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 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. Some guests will stay at the next lunch at the Elysée.

- "A page turns" -

The French political class should also be widely represented, until the president of the RN Marine Le Pen, who announced Saturday his coming, she whose father had made Jacques Chirac an "enemy".

A minute of silence will also be observed Monday at 15:00 in administrations and schools.

A special tribute will also be paid to the former president on the weekend of October 5 and 6 in Corrèze, his chosen land.

Saturday at 20:00, the Elysee closed after three days of welcoming the public, who signed registers of condolences. Many visitors told AFP how excited they are to see a figure that has marked their lives in one way or another, through four decades of political life.

Deputy Mayor of Paris, several times Minister and Prime Minister and twice elected President of the Republic: "he saw us grow up," summarized Anne, 27 years.

The registers will be available at the Invalides Sunday from 14H00. The French will pay a last tribute on Monday to Jacques Chirac on the path of the funeral convoy to the Saint-Sulpice church.

- Evolutions sometimes sinuous -

The former head of state, sick for many years, died "very peacefully, without suffering" and surrounded by his family Thursday morning at his home, rue de Tournon in the 6th arrondissement of Paris. According to the wish of his wife Bernadette, Jacques Chirac will be buried in the Montparnasse cemetery in the vault where their eldest daughter Laurence, who died in 2016, already rests.

With Jacques Chirac disappears one of the main actors on the right of the French political life, since the end of the sixties until the middle of the years 2000. Sign of the persistence of the national emotion, 48 hours after his death, most news channels, radio and newspapers have continued to devote a large part of their content to the life and legacy of Jacques Chirac.

But the tributes did not omit the dark side of the character, the relative thinness of his 12 years of presidency to his conviction in 2011 for a case of fictitious jobs at the mayor of Paris, the first penal sanction for a former head of the State.

bur-bap-ast-Reb / jk / nm

© 2019 AFP