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Desmond Tutu: South Africa's anti-apartheid hero lies in state for second day

Tutu, who requested the cheapest coffin and did not want any lavish funeral expense, will be cremated and his remains interred behind the cathedral pulpit, from which he often used to preach against racial injustice.
2 min read
31 December, 2021
Archbishop Desmond Tutu was revered across South Africa and the world [Xabiso Mkhabela/Anadolu Agency/Getty]

lined up for a second day on Friday to pay their respects to , whose body lay in state at St George's Cathedral in Cape Town where the preached against apartheid andÌýracial injustice.

Tutu, a Nobel Peace prize winner widely revered across racial and cultural divides in South Africa for his moral rectitude and principled fight against white-minority rule, died on SundayÌýaged 90.

The respectedÌýarchbishop strongly backedÌýthe Palestinian people's right toÌýfreedom and opposed Israeli abuses against them. He likened the Palestinian and South African experiences of apartheid.

Members of the clergy and church wardens lined the street as a guard of honour, waiting for the simple pine coffin with rope handles to arrive, while the St George's Cathedral marching band filled the air with sounds of drums, flutes and trumpets.

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A teary Thandeka Tutu, the archbishop'sÌýeldest daughter, hugged her sisters after climbing out of the hearse, meeting other family members and the clergy at the entrance where six black-robed pall bearers carried the closed coffin inside to an inner sanctuary amid a cloud of incense from an Anglican thurible.

The cathedral's dean, Father Michael Weeder, told news broadcaster eNCA that Tutu's body would lie in state in the cathedral through the night after the public viewing ends at 5pmÌý(1500 GMT).

A long line snacked around the cathedral as mourners waited to pay their respects.

, who requested the cheapest coffin and did not want any lavish funeral expense, will be cremated and his remains interred behind the cathedral pulpit, from which he often used to preach against racial injustice.

(Reuters)

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