Austria pays tribute to late rightist Haider

About 25,000 Austrians turned out yesterday for the memorial service of Joerg Haider, the far-right populist leader who died a week ago in a high-speed car crash while drunk.

Haider, one of Austria's rare internationally recognised public figures, led the right into a coalition government from 2000-2006 and helped thrust anti-immigrant politics into the European mainstream with his blunt and polarising rhetoric.

He been been governor of the Alpine province of Carinthia for more than a decade and was seen by many as a leader with a common touch who took on the political establishment in Vienna.

"He was a man who could leave no one cold, whether in a positive or a negative sense," Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer said at Haider's open-air memorial service.

Haider, 58, was killed when his luxury car crashed at more than 140 kph, twice the speed limit. His blood alcohol level was nearly four times the legal limit.

His notoriety peaked in the 1990s when he cited the "proper labour policies" of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich. He had also referred to Nazi concentration camps as "penal camps" in a parliamentary debate.

Haider's populism, which targeted what he saw as the loss of sovereignty to the EU, helped break the grip on government of centrist parties he said were out of touch.

"Although he was controversial and contested, he spoke for European democracy. Haider was not only local, Austrian, but had a European message," said Albert Gardin, 59, who had travelled from Venice to pay his respects.

Mourners, many dressed in traditional green and brown dresses and lederhosen, added wreaths to the dozens put outside local government headquarters since his death on October 11.

About 12,000 people queued silently for hours on Friday to pay tribute at his closed coffin, placing official photographs of the tanned and casually clothed Haider among red candles.

"He wasn't just a politician, he was a friend to everyone," said 27-year-old Yvonne Graessl.

Haider's pale wood coffin, decked in rich red flowers and ribbon, was taken from the government headquarters to the town square accompanied by solemn brass band music. After a public memorial, Haider's body was taken to Klagenfurt's 16th century cathedral, where Mozart's Requiem was played.

The son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, Saif al-Islam, attended. He befriended Haider during his Vienna student days.