BBC RADIO 4, THE INDEPENDENT (UK) REUTERS
LONDON – Former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was honored Wednesday at a solemn funeral at St. Paul's Cathedral in central London.
An estimated 2,300 people from 170 different countries attended the ceremony, which Reuters compared to Winston Churchill's funeral in 1965.
The scene inside St Paul's #thatchertwitpic.com/cjy5bs
— Shropshire Star (@ShropshireStar) April 17, 2013
The Independent reports that activities of extremists from Northern Ireland, as well as left-wing protesters, were being tracked by MI5 agents and counter-terrorism services ahead of the morning procession, and that security was increased in response to the terrorist attack on the Boston marathon.
#Thatcher passes. Somber silence, then a wave of polite British applause. twitter.com/davidenrich/st…
— David Enrich (@davidenrich) April 17, 2013
Four thousand police were on duty in London but there were no signs of protests during the funeral procession, which carried Thatcher's coffin draped in the Union flag from parliament to the church of St. Clement Danes on a hearse, before military guard placed it on a horse-drawn gun carriage that carried the coffin to St. Paul's Cathedral.
Dismissing concerns by some Thatcher critics about the cost and pomp of the event (an expected 10 million pounds), Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative Party David Cameron told BBC Radio 4 "I think what is happening today is absolutely fitting and right," before adding “in a way we are all Thatcherites now.”
Some in the funeral crowd applaud as a marching band heads through Ludgate Circus to St Paul's. Others boo and chant "Waste of money!"
— Jon Kay (@jonkay01) April 17, 2013
Britain’s longest-serving Prime Minister of the 20th century, the "Iron Lady" — a nickname Thatcher’s uncompromising politics earned her -- died from a stroke on April 8, aged 87.
