NICOSIA, June 25 (Xinhua) -- Former Cypriot President Demetris Christofias, who died last Friday at the age of 72, was given a state funeral on Tuesday.
A funeral service was held in a church according to the customs of the Greek Orthodox Church.
The body of Christofias lied in state flag at the building of a left wing trade union, with thousands of people passing by from early morning until shortly before the funeral service.
Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades led all his ministers who lined up inside the church at Ayia Sofia church in a Nicosia suburb, the biggest in Cyprus, which was chosen to host Cypriot and foreign officials.
Scorching temperatures of over 40 degrees Celsius, that prompted yellow alert, did not deter tens of thousands of people to fill the spaces around the church or line the streets.
Attending the funeral was Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, accompanied by Defense Minister Evangelos Apostolakis.
People clapped as Tsipras and President Anastasiades arrived at the church.
Present at the funeral were also the head of the U.N. mission to Cyprus, Elisabeth Spehar, foreign ambassadors in Nicosia, and delegates of communist parties of EU countries and other countries around the world.
Present were also scores of Turkish Cypriots, among them former community leader Mehmet Ali Talat, with whom Christofias had been engaged for more than two years in negotiations for the reunification of Cyprus, and leaders of Turkish Cypriot parties as Christofias was popular among Turkish Cypriots.
A eulogy for Christofias was said by AKEL leader, Andros Kyprianou, who praised the former president for achieving great progress in negotiations with Mehmet Ali Talat for a solution of the Cyprus problem.
He also said that Christofias was wronged by opponent politicians and other people who blamed him for the explosion in southern Cyprus in 2011, in which 13 people were killed and for the collapse of the Cypriot economy in 2013, which Kyprianou blamed on the banks.
Groups of AKEL youths chanted their party slogan "AKEL, now and forever, AKEL, AKEL, AKEL," as the coffin was carried to the cemetery for the burial to the booms of cannon shots.
