Thousands line streets for Lee Kuan Yew - Telegraph.co.uk

By Charlotte Krol, and AP, video source Channel News Asia

10:31AM BST 29 Mar 2015

Tens of thousands of Singaporeans undeterred by heavy rains lined a 9 mile route through the Southeast Asian city-state to witness an elaborate funeral procession on Sunday for longtime leader Lee Kuan Yew .

Mr Lee's coffin, protected from the downpour by a glass casing, lay atop a ceremonial gun carriage led solemnly past city landmarks from parliament to a cultural centre where the state funeral will be held.

Walking slowly in the coffin's wake as it exited parliament were Mr Lee's son, the current prime minister Lee Hsien Loong, other family members and government officials.

^{Mourners wave Singapore national flags and military personnel salute as a gun carriage bearing the coffin of Singapore's first elected prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, draped in the Singapore national flag, travels towards the University Cultural Centre at the National University of Singapore (Bloomberg)}

Crowds of people that began forming not long after dawn for the early afternoon funeral cortege chanted "Lee Kuan Yew," snapped photos with smartphones held aloft and waved Singapore's flag, while four howitzers fired a 21-gun salute.

During a week of national mourning that began Monday after Mr Lee's death at age 91, some 450,000 people queued for hours for a glimpse of the statesman's coffin at Parliament House.

^{Singaporeans wait for the coffin carrying Lee Kuan Yew to pass by (Getty)}

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