Tens of thousands of Serbs rallied to pay last respects to Slobodan Milosevic in Belgrade and in the town of Pozarevac today, hailing as a hero the man who came to be known as the "Butcher of the Balkans."
Supporters of the former president, who died in his cell at the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague last Saturday, waved banners and red, blue and white Serbian flags as they demonstrated outside the federal parliament in Belgrade.
"When we wipe away the tears of rage and sorrow, we will be proud to have had him," Milorad Vucelic, a senior official from Milosevic's Socialist party, told the crowd estimated by police at around 80,000.
The mourners, mostly middle-aged or older, held a minute's silence and then broke into cries of "Slobo, Slobo!" and "This is Serbia!"
After the rally, a hearse took Milosevic's coffin draped in a Serbian flag on its final journey to the town of Pozarevac for burial in the grounds of the family's home.
Thousands of people, many holding red roses, gathered in the drab provincial town some 80 km east of Belgrade to follow the hearse and hear more speeches before the burial.
Widely blamed in neighboring countries and the West for the Balkan wars of the 1990s which killed at least 150,000 people and forced millions to flee, Milosevic faced charges including genocide and crimes against humanity at the Hague tribunal.
But feelings in Serbia were more divided. He dominated politics for more than a decade before a mass uprising at the scene of Saturday's rally in Belgrade forced him from power.
The former strongman was denied the state funeral his supporters claimed he had a right to. They had put his coffin on public display in Belgrade since Thursday.
Ex-army officers in ceremonial uniforms flanked the coffin on Saturday and speakers at the rally included former US attorney general Ramsey Clark, a longtime Milosevic supporter.
Around 2,000 pro-democracy activists — generally younger than the pro-Milosevic crowd — rallied later in the day in Belgrade, waving colorful balloons and blowing whistles to recall their long years of opposition to the former president.
Serbia's government is now dominated by reformist politicians whose aim is membership of the European Union.
Some of their supporters are angry the country's leaders have not spoken out more strongly against the Socialists' attempts to burnish Milosevic's reputation.
Milosevic died of heart failure aged 64. His supporters have alleged he was given drugs that prevented his heart medication from working but war crimes prosecutors say he took them himself in an effort to be allowed treatment in Russia.
Milosevic's wife Mira Markovic and their son Marko fear arrest or worse if they return from self-imposed exile in Russia and chose not to attend the burial after receiving threats.
Milosevic's daughter Marija complained she was not consulted about the funeral and wants to exhume his body and bury it in his ancestral village in the republic of Montenegro.
Plans to hold an Orthodox Church funeral ceremony in Pozarevac were abandoned.