Shocked and grieving Poles observed two minutes of silence for President Lech Kaczynski and much of their country's elite on Sunday, a day after they were killed in a plane crash in Russia.
The elderly Tupolev plane crashed in thick fog near Smolensk in western Russia on Saturday, killing all 97 people on board. Kaczynski had been planning to mark the 70th anniversary of the massacre of Polish officers by Soviet forces in a nearby forest.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin saw off Kaczynski's coffin at a short ceremony at Smolensk. A military plane was due to fly it to Warsaw, and Polish officials said Kaczynski would lie in state at a date still to be decided.
Millions of mourners in this staunchly Roman Catholic nation packed into churches to pray for the dead. Thousands thronged the area in front of the presidential palace in Warsaw, transformed into a shrine festooned with flowers, candles, Polish red and white flags and portraits of the deceased.
Acting President Bronislaw Komorowski and Prime Minister Donald Tusk also laid candles as sirens rang at noon.
Komorowski has declared a week of national mourning and has urged Poles to set aside their political differences at this time.
