Poles queue up in thousands to mourn president

Thousands of Poles joined a half-mile queue to pay their respects to president Lech Kaczynski and his wife.

Mourners knelt, prayed and cried in Warsaw's presidential palace where the couple, who were among the 96 victims of Saturday's plane crash in Russia, lay in state.

"We will wait as long as it takes," said Alicja Marszalek, a retired telephone operator. "We want to pay homage to them because they were wonderful people."

Their funeral will be on Sunday. After a mass at St Mary's Basilica, the bodies will be carried to the 1,000-year-old Wawel cathedral, the main burial place of Polish monarchs since the 14th century. Presidents Barack Obama, Dmitry Medvedev and Nicolas Sarkozy are expected to attend.