Family, friends attend Havel´s funeral in Prague crematorium

Prague - The family, friends as well as the public took part in the private funeral of former Czechoslovak and Czech president Vaclav Havel in Prague´s crematorium today.

The national anthem of the former Czechoslovakia, of which Havel was the last president, was played at the end of the ceremony.

Havel, former dissident, playwright and Czechoslovak and Czech president (1989-2003), died in his country house in Hradecek, east Bohemia, on December 18 aged 75 years.

The private funeral was opened with the song "A Prayer for Marta" from 1968, which became a symbol of the nation´s resistance to the Soviet-led occupation of Czechoslovakia and later of the November 1989 Velvet Revolution. Havel´s widow Dagmar laid a bunch of flowers at the coffin.

Dagmar Havlova, her daughter Nina and Havel´s brother Ivan were sitting in the front row.

Actress Tana Fischerova gave the first speech, followed by actor Jiri Bartoska, president of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. He said he wished he could smoke a cigarette with Havel in his country house, alluding to Havel having been a chain smoker.

Musician and Havel´s friend Michael Kocab arranged music for the ceremony. He and Havel´s wife selected the songs that Havel liked, such as John Lennon´s Imagine, U.S. rocker Lou Reed´s Perfect Day and Magic Nights by the Plastic People of The Universe Czech rock band that was banned by the communist regime and its members were arrested. Havel stood up in their defence.

A Czech folk song performed by Dagmar Havlova alone was played. She recorded it a night before.

The funeral culminated with the Czechoslovak national anthem which people started singing spontaneously, and Havel´s voice from a recording said his famous motto: "Truth and love must triumph over lies and hatred."

The ceremony was attended by several Czech actors, legendary pop music singer Karel Gott and other artists as well as surgeon Pavel Pafko, who operated on Havel in the past.

Though the funeral was originally planned as a private event, security guards opened the gate and let the public in. There were some 200 people in the

crematorium´s grand hall in the end.

The coffin with Havel´s remains was brought to the crematorium at around 15:00 from St Vitus Cathedral at Prague Castle where a state funeral was held at noon, attended by heads of state and other current and former statesmen from all over the world.

A multicultural event as a homage to Havel started in the Lucerna palace on Wenceslas square in the city centre tonight.

Author: CTK
www.ctk.cz

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