Some 5,000 fervent supporters of Augusto Pinochet mourned today at the funeral of the former Chilean dictator whose repressive 17-year rule made him infamous worldwide for human rights abuses.
Relatives, friends and top Chilean military officers crowded into a courtyard at a military college in Santiago. Some heckled the defense minister for the government's refusal to grant him the full state funeral usually reserved for former leaders.
At the same time, a few thousand leftists rallied in the city center against Pinochet. Several demonstrators, dressed as ghouls, tossed a mock coffin into the Mapocho river, where the bodies of dissidents were thrown during the 1973-1990 dictatorship.
Pinochet, who died on Sunday at age 91, continues to polarize Chilean public opinion, even in death. His supporters credit him with saving the country from communism and chaos, while detractors call him a shameless murderer.
Center-left President Michelle Bachelet, who was tortured during Pinochet's rule, did not attend the funeral, and when Defense Minister Vivianne Blanlot arrived, mourners whistled their disapproval.
As their protests drowned out the sound of the funeral choir, the priest conducting the ceremony appealed for calm.
Pinochet's eldest daughter, Lucia Pinochet, praised her father for lighting "a flame of freedom" in September 1973, when he overthrew in a coup the democratically elected socialist government of President Salvador Allende.
The military said up to 60,000 people attended a public viewing of Pinochet's casket before the funeral.
Pinochet's son Augusto said the government's refusal to hold a state funeral was "nearly incomprehensible" given what he called the esteem shown for his father worldwide.