The city-state, famous for its clockwork handling of major events like the night-time Singapore Grand Prix, seemed unprepared for the scale of the outpouring of grief since their 91-year-old first prime minister died on Monday. “Members of the public are strongly advised not to join the queue at the Padang now,” said a government advisory which urged mourners to go instead to 18 community sites to pay homage to Lee, who is revered for transforming Singapore from a British colonial outpost into one of Asia’s richest societies.
The round-the-clock queue outside parliament starts at the Padang -- a large grassy field used for parades and concerts as well as football, cricket and other sports. Mourners are now being given only a few seconds to file past the former leader’s brown wooden casket draped with the
red-and-white Singapore flag in the parliament lobby.
More than 250,000 mourners had paid their respects by mid-afternoon today, according to an official count, up from about 150,000 at midnight yesterday. “I am deeply moved by the overwhelming response of people wanting to visit my father’s Lying in State at Parliament House,” Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Facebook.
He announced that a live video feed of the flow of mourners viewing the casket inside the parliament’s lobby had been put up on YouTube.
Lee has been lying in state since Wednesday and the public has until 8:00 pm (1200 GMT) tomorrow to pay their respects.
India: national mourning on March 29
Indian Government has declared national mourning on Sunday as mark of respect to the former PM of Singapore Lee Kuan Yew. National flag will be flown at half-mast throughout the country and there will be no official entertainment on Sunday, — Lee’s funeral day, an official statement said. PM Narendra Modi will be attending the funeral of Lee.
The round-the-clock queue outside parliament starts at the Padang -- a large grassy field used for parades and concerts as well as football, cricket and other sports. Mourners are now being given only a few seconds to file past the former leader’s brown wooden casket draped with the
red-and-white Singapore flag in the parliament lobby.
More than 250,000 mourners had paid their respects by mid-afternoon today, according to an official count, up from about 150,000 at midnight yesterday. “I am deeply moved by the overwhelming response of people wanting to visit my father’s Lying in State at Parliament House,” Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Facebook.
He announced that a live video feed of the flow of mourners viewing the casket inside the parliament’s lobby had been put up on YouTube.
Lee has been lying in state since Wednesday and the public has until 8:00 pm (1200 GMT) tomorrow to pay their respects.
India: national mourning on March 29
Indian Government has declared national mourning on Sunday as mark of respect to the former PM of Singapore Lee Kuan Yew. National flag will be flown at half-mast throughout the country and there will be no official entertainment on Sunday, — Lee’s funeral day, an official statement said. PM Narendra Modi will be attending the funeral of Lee.