A seething mass of pilgrims pushed their way into St Peter’s Square on Friday, desperate to secure a front-seat position for the funeral on Friday of Pope John Paul II.
As final preparations for the requiem mass got under way, the silhouettes of state leaders could be seen gathering on the right side of the esplanade of St Peter’s Basilica, while on the left sat cardinals in purple mourning robes.
Police opened the square to the crowds at 7am, leading to a dangerous crush at the entrance before the crowd was shepherded toward metal detectors.
A young girl was carried away unconscious on a stretcher by six first-aid medics.
At one point, the pushing crowd on one side threatened to overwhelm police operating the barriers.
”Open! Open!” they roared as they tried to push through. Dozens of police and soldiers were called in as reinforcements until the situation eased.
”Everyone was pushing very hard,” said Monika Flis, from Poland, already on the square waiting to go through the police control and metal detectors.
But she had no doubt it was worth it.
”I’m happy to be here, I didn’t see him when he came to Poland, so I must be here.”
The red and white colours of John Paul II’s native Poland filled the main artery leading to the basilica and high prelates were whisked past the crowds through the emergency corridors.
”Patience wins souls,” said Miriam Lazic, a pilgrim from the Croatian port town of Dubrovnik.
Nearby stood five nuns from the Philippines and India, their black-and-white robes barely visible in the multitude.
”We are here to express our love,” said Sister Thelma of the Philippines.
Still waiting to get into the square, Macek Karowicz, a Polish pilgrim from Lublin, stood quietly in the crowd.
Asked why he had travelled to Rome, he said: ”Why do you go to your father’s funeral? You don’t know why, you have to.”
Sara Nigon, a 21-year-old student from a Catholic university in Minnesota, sat on the pavement by a group of American students and priests who, for their part, were still sleeping on the cobblestones.
Nigon said she was there for the pope, but also the event.
”I realise that this is probably one of the biggest events in history, this many people coming together to honour one man.”
Earlier, thousands of pilgrims wrapped in blankets, sleeping bags or their national flags had slept on the streets of Rome, waiting for police to let them through.
Hundreds of police officers were deployed just on the square and the main artery leading to the basilica where the body of John Paul II has been lying in state since Monday, viewed by an endless sea of humanity for three days and nights.
Several thousand officers patrolled the neighbourhood where pilgrims slept, sat or stood in silent prayer.
”We just wanted to say goodbye to the greatest Pole in history,” said Aneta Wisneiwska, who had flown from the pope’s native Poland for the funeral.
”It will be completely different being in Rome than watching it on TV,” she said, after folding her blanket near the blocked-off bridge that leads to the main artery toward St Peter’s Square.
Gathered around a guitar, a clutch of Italians sang along to Bob Dylan’s Knocking on Heaven’s Door. Elsewhere, however, a few snores could be heard through the quiet chatting.
About a dozen people stood around a fountain brushing their teeth, while there were already long queues outside each portable toilet.
The funeral, due to start at 10am, is drawing the leaders of more than 100 countries and representatives of the world’s major religions, as well as an estimated congregation in the streets of Rome of two million or more.
For the thousands of pilgrims who had made it past the first barriers, all that was left to do was to wait in the Via della Conciliazone leading to the basilica, where giant screens beamed archive images of John Paul II’s 26-year pontificate. — Sapa-AFP