rollinge watching our coverage of the funeral of the former french president. a man who served as the prime minister and mayor of paris, whose career spanned more than four decades. that ceremony taking place, following the president's death last week at the age of 86. it is being led by the archbishop of paris. among the dozens of heads of state, bill clinton and vladimir putin.

that's ceremony taking place as the public pays their last respects. we can cross now to france 24's doug herbert. doug, an extremely solid ceremony for the late president. reflectsceremony that ththe wishes of jacqueues c ch's family. and also the french presidency. this memorial service today is really the product of a very, very tight collaboration between both the family that wanted asylum and intimate service and the french presidency, who also needed to make sure it was a service that included as many dignitaries and leaders as wished to attend and pay respects to jacques chirac. it is a servicece that has struk thatat balance. we heard two very solid

requiem's by french composers. jesus. the prayayer to it is a capstone of these types of solemn memorial services. emotional highlight of this service was perhaps daniel playing that opus 142 in an e flat major. it is called in prompt us. the humanist message. it is a message that very much gels with those of the family anand the mayan -- maman, jacqus chirac, who went through his life, being someone who tried to forge dialogue between often unlikely partners to bridge cultural divides. we will member that he notably was a great fririend of the palestinians and daniel shares that message of bridging people's cultures that were at

shop -- sharp odds with each other. that was front and centeter in e message of this psalm, traditional servicece and intime service at the same time. the people we have seen at this ,ervicice, both inside thehe chh the spanning of political generationsns, all i in that same church. and yet, also here on the outside, among the ordinary members of the french public. as i glanceded to my right and look at them right now, there are thousands here of all ages,, all generatitions. there is the occasional punctuate of a few applause is. .- applause it is a crowd that has been on riveted by the ceremony. a hushed crowd, taking it all in. a ceremony of jacques chirac who was in many wage -- ways larger

than like. i think a ceremony that will lead people both inside and outside of the service very satisfied. >> they mentiononed it atat both sides of the political -- they mentioned it. both sides of the political spectrum represented. one person was notable for her absence. maryry le pen. >> we talklk about that alalrea. not to make too much of t the polilitical absences on this da. officially, the french presidency did invite marine le , in theary le pen desire to be inclusive of all of society. even parties that the president himself may fiercely disagree with so tha. the family signaled they had no desire for the far-right leader to be there. it was marine le pen's father,

jean-marie le pen who was pitted against jacques chirac in that landmark, historic and polarizing election if ever there was one in france. the whole world was riveted on the election where it came down to the second round of the presidential election, a contest between the far-right leader and jacques chirac. there was a rallying of all french around jacques chirac. eveven the left t and the far-lt rallllied around d a conservatie ,andidate, a conservative man reelected him with 82% of the vote in a strong rejection of the far-right. some people fought jacques chiracchirac -- thought jacquesc did not tatake advantage of tha. to bridge more dividides in society thanan he did. he did not benefit from that enough. that said,d, marine le pen is

accident -- absesent. she understood that she did not want to bebe a gatecrasher. that also reflects the traditions in french society today. a notable absence but one that is very much in gelling with the wishes of the family. herbert, thank you. that ceremony taking place at the church, days after the death of jacques chirac at the age of 86. there joined onset by chairman of the national institute of strategic studies based in london. an impressive turnout. large numbers of the public turned out today. clearly a very special man to a lot of people. >> special in two ways. one is the man himself was enormously approachable. he had some of the

characteristics which foreigners traditionally associate with the french. he came across as a genuine person. those who were not of his political persuasion or those of his critics. the other aspect has to do with the passing of titime. he was part and parcel of french political l life for half a century. he was one of the few people who strode the stage for decades and decades. i am old enough to have witnessed the rise of sure rock

-- jacques chirac as a politician in the 60's. that tells you not only something about my own age but it tells you something about how familiar most french have been with him as part of the furniture. been in a man who has our living rooms, if i can put it that way for nearly half a century. you take the likability on one hand and the pertinence of the .ther and you have this this explains why his passing away resonates so strongly, despite thehe relative limitatis of his legacy in the domestic arena, or what some people would limitations in the

drastic amino -- arena. >> taking holy communion inside as you can see there. to norsetually cross trent, who is among the crowds. seen hugee, we hahave crowds o outside the churcrch. why y was it important for themo be there on this day? >> you are right. there have been large crowds. there still are crowds of several hundred people in the streets outside. not directly in front of the church itself. they have been waiting for hours just to be near the event. or, perhaps of a -- have a glimpse. i am joined by one of the people who has been here for the past several hours. why did you feel you had to come down here today? >> it is so important.

was a foremost french politician. french love him. >> you, yourself are a big fan, i believe. >> i am a big fan. in my house, there is a picture of him with his wife and his little dog. >> w what do you think a about jacques chirac touched you so much? >> he was human. and he was-minded russian speaker. i am a russian speaker. i am fond of russia. i am also very friendly. >> you were telling me that

during his time, one of the things that most caught you was his denunciation of france's role in the second world war in sending people off to concentration camps. >> there were thousands of unfortunatelye camamps andrmination with the help of some other french cities, they were the victims. that hey thankful delivered the speech. it was very important -- a very

important moment. the response ability -- responsibility of the french and to thee paid tribute .riters >> the people who prototected ad hid jewishsh families. what emotions do you feel today with the service taking place for jacques c chirac and his burial later on. >> i am happy that there are so many people. showed theirds love for this man. for this character. i think the ceremony is

very well organized. it was very impressiveve. for youryou very much time and for sharing your thoughts. that was one of many of several hundred people who have come down here to the area surrounding the church where the funeral service of jacques chirac has been taking place. trent, thanknorse you very much indeed. memorial for the late jacques chirac is taking place, led by the archbishop. somebody was talking about just was that shocks rock admitted france's role in t.e holocaust and how significant a moment in his

legacy is that, do you think? >> from my stamina, it is the most important legacy in terms domestic politics that he has left behind. his absolutely uncompromising fight against anti-semitism. this came across s in the speech in 1995, which he gave shortly after having been elected president. this was clearly something that he viewed as essential. top of the list, if i can put it that way. france and theed french people to come to terms, to grips with their own past. it is quite important for the future. in the wake of 9/11, we had some serious anti-semitic incidents and attacks. in the months preceding the

2002,ential election of he was left, right and center in stating clearly that this was not acceptable. actually have helped convince people, many people to go out and vote in the 2002 elections. he was, you know, he had his own views of the israeli-palestinian conflict. it was not always received with greaeat pleasure by the israeli with great pleasure by the israeli government at the time. he was absolutely, 100% vocal and clear in his fight against anti-semitism. that is very much at the center of this. >> what up the courage to face that in a way his predecessors hadn't?

courage to face that in a way his predecessors hadn't? >> he was of the first war generation but he was old enough to have been a child of thee secondnd world war. on, demonstrated that he was a patriot. this is something which few people know. he was on the verge of choosing to opt out of the elite civil service school to go into the military. he was a true patriot. had,me from a family which what i would call strong anti-nazi credentials of its own. was important to ,ctually break, in the sense

with the legacy. societyd to heal immediately after the sesecond world war so the discourse was on unity, even if that required having to sweep some e of the dirty elements of the past beneath the carpet. he was rather ambiguous on the topic. it took a new generation. clear. things to reestablish responsibility, where responsibility latate. itit was an act of political courage because it wasn't clear when he gave the speech that people would understand. after all, they had gone through 50 years of discourse about french national unity against the german occupants during the

second world war. president this young who said no, we did some of the dirty work ourselves. we have to face up to it. this was a gamble. he was right to take it. it has made us better people as a consequence. >> we are joined by mark. we heard how many in the jewish community are rate for two jacques chirac for emerging in the e role o of the deportatatif jews in the holocaust. what about his relationship with other minority groups? relations with all different kinds of people. he didn't make any difference in terms of origins. in his personal life, he adopted as someone who

came from cambodia. he had an adopted daughter, i have not seen her in the picture. openness, despite party that was associated with traditional france. did not makewho any inference. -- difference. one of his staunchest ideological stances, i would say, was to be against the far right. it is illustrated today by his family's refusal of marine le attendthat marine le pen the ceremony we are witnessing right now. by her father, who was much more openly anti-semitic, racist then she

is. she has been much more careful. she has been gaining ground as well, to tell the truth. there was clearly this willingness by sox iraq -- jacques chirac to say i am conservative but i am open to different religions and civilizatitions. that is part of his legacy, which is why you have very different kind of people. not only people from rural france, traditional france paying tribute to him but people from all walks of life and all kinds of origins. >> you would agree that jacques chirac, you would agree with mark? >> i would agree with what has just been said. i would add something. that is that people only discovered late in the day that jacques chirac had a hidden dimension. it was a bit of a mystery

part ofhe was clearly the act of hiding. extraordinarily -- a man of extraordinary culture. he was nearly professionally on the cultures of japan. i think he did 67 trips to japan over the decade. 67. he was a specialist of ancient chinese poetry. peoplesaid by one of the , your correspondent, spoke quite a bit of russian. inward artledge of of the peoples of the far north. and of african art. had his a man who culture. it was a deep culture. -- who h hid his culture.

it w a a deep culture.. it was well hidden. >> why did he feel l the need to hide his cululture d during his political l career? >> there may be two answers. the two may go together. one answer is he believed this to be, how to put it, his secret garden. this was something which he was going to keep out of f politics. then, you have another explanation, which isompatible with the previous one. projecting image as eating and anward enormous amount of food and drinking and mexican beer.

watching sumo wrestling. he would be doing this sort of stuff. persona would no doubt have jarred with the notion that this guy was an poetry.nd a student of a bridging of cultures between extraordinary and different peoples. >> i am actually seeing images of jacques chirac's often being slowly let out -- cough being slowly led out. mark, would you agree that jacques chirac's cultural legacy is something that he will be remembered for above other things?? >> yes. he tried to hide it from public

view. he actually tried to hide himself from public view. unlike many former heads of state of government, like bill clinton, who is a goodd example for attending today. jacques chirac did not want that. maybe there is also a notion at the end of a second and last mandate, he already had a stroke in 2005. he was in declining health. he probably did not have a chance maybe to promote this side of him after his departure. the last time he was actually seen in public was five years ago, wherere he atattended a cereremony at the museum. maybe iraq did not have the time. to say the truth, after he left

power, he said i don't know why people would b be interested in me. in a way, when he was a young, ambitious politician, he could walk on everyone's head. you had a notion that he wanted to be front and center. and then there is this jacques chirac who did not want to bother people e with japanese poetry or what he was doing for handicapped people. he did a l lot for them without telling. personnelery public and he had something he wanted to keep a sesecret as possible. >> the coffin is making its way to the exit. doug herbert is at the church for us. doug, what exactly do we know about what is going to happen to jacques chirac's body now? >> let's stay in the here and

now. this is the last full measure for our late french president, that very much has the hearts and minds of the french people on its side.e. it is the final profefession -- procession. solemn, traditional, according to the wishes of the family. it was a service marked by heheights of universalist mumus. and proctor's. a humanist, universalist message. the final benediction. the hundreds of guests are theying the pallbearers as convey for the last time and they bear his coffin o out of second largest

church, in route to a more intimamate moment, a private burial of the late president. the crowd, hundreds if not thousands are ououtside this church and applauding, warmly applauding. [applause] they have been watching for the past hour and a

man: it's been described by the un as a textbook ethninic cleansing. woman: bangladesh has called on myanmar to allow the return of hundreds of thousands of rohingya muslims. they can't cope with the scale of the humanitarian crisis. rape and torture at the hands of the myanmar army. i'm alex crawford, and this is "hotspots." tonight, we're gonna take you behind the scenes of some of the world's hardest-hitting stories. we're in northern iraq, where stuart ramsay has an amazingly lucky escape. ramsay: the chance of surviving that, a flip of a coin, i suspect. crawford: our cameras are rolling when things get out of

hand in spain. [gunfire]