Tens of thousands mourn Brazil presidential candidate Campos
Monday, 18 August 2014
More than 160,000 mourners turned out to pay their respects to Brazilian presidential candidate Eduardo Campos here Sunday after the popular socialist politician's death in a plane crash last week. A burst of fireworks marked his burial after a packed crowd of tens of thousands of people accompanied his body, carried in a flag-draped fire truck, through the streets to a family vault in Recife's largest cemetery. The burial took place at 6:35 pm (2135 GMT) after being delayed more than an hour by the throngs of mourners, many of whom shouted ‘Eduardo, warrior for the Brazilian people!’ during the procession. Earlier in the day, a line stretching some three kilometers (1.9 miles) queued to file past Campos's coffin outside Recife's local government headquarters to say a final farewell. President Dilma Rousseff was in attendance as ceremonies got under way with an open-air mass, according to AFP.