Thousands of mourners gathered outside the Hanoi house of Vietnam’s revered General Vo Nguyen Giap on Sunday to pay their last respects to the wildly-popular independence hero following his death.
Well-wishers carrying bunches of yellow flowers and packets of incense queued for hours to enter the French colonial villa in the heart of the communist country’s Capital.
“I never saw this many people come to pay their respects after the death of (Vietnam’s founding father) Ho Chi Minh in 1969,” retired Army colonel Nguyen Van Hieu, 72, told AFP.
“It is the first time the family of a Vietnamese top leader have opened their doors to the public to allow them to visit and pay their respects,” he added.
Giap, second only to “Uncle Ho” as modern Vietnam’s most revered figure, was lauded as a genius for guerrilla tactics that defeated both the French and United States armies.
His death on Friday aged 102 sparked an outpouring of condolence across the country’s buzzing social networks.
But it was only after the authoritarian Government officially acknowledged the death on Saturday and announced he would be given a national funeral on October 13, that crowds of mourners were able to gather at his home.