Tens of thousands of mourners gathered in the southern Austrian city of Klagenfurt yesterday for the funeral of Jörg Haider, the far-right politician who was killed in a high-speed car crash last weekend.

Nearly 30,000 people crowded the streets to attend the ceremony. Haider’s coffin, decorated with wreaths of red flowers and ribbons, was carried through the city, accompanied by a brass band playing sombre music.

A service in Klagenfurt’s cathedral was attended by Heinz Fischer, Austria’s president, and Alfred Gusenbauer, the chancellor.

Haider, 58, a divisive yet popular politician in Austria, died early last Saturday when his car crashed into a concrete post and overturned in the Alpine province of Carinthia, where he had been governor for more than a decade. He had been on his way to a family reunion for his mother’s birthday.

Haider, who had nearly four times the legal level of alcohol in his blood, had been travelling at 88mph, twice the speed limit.

The public prosecutor revealed last week that Haider had been seen leaving a gay club, Stradt Kraemer, in Klagenfurt shortly before the accident. He was married and had two adult daughters, but rumours that he was a closet homosexual had circulated in the Austrian and German press.

Haider drew worldwide condemnation for praising Nazi policies and provoked European Union sanctions against Austria when his far-right party joined a coalition government in 2000. Last month his party made a comeback in parliamentary elections in which the far right made significant gains.

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