Thousands of people, mostly young one, have been flocking since yesterday to the suburb of Nea Ionia in western Athens to pay their last respect to singer and songwriter Pantelis Pantelidis who was killed in a car crash on Thursday morning.
Saturday noon, the people moved to the local church to attend the religious mass.
Fans in tears, a band playing Pantelidis’ songs, hundreds of flowers…
video:
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People applaud when the white coffin arrives at the cemetery.
The coffin is covered with the Greek flag as Pantelidis served as officer of the Greek Navy for 10 years.
Thousands outside the church
There has been occasionally tension among the crowd, a mass brawl has been avoided in the last minute.
Two young women fainted and paramedics helped them with first aid.
Video: panoramic view & song
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Estimated 20,000 people attended the funeral.
Hundreds of funeral wreaths were sent by family, relatives, friends, colleagues, fans. they had to be loaded in three trucks.
Live Link from the funeral here with live comment in Greek. Another Live stream directly from the cemetery (no commenting) here
He may Rest in Peace – It’s a tragedy to see young people go…
PS based on my blog’s statistics I see Pantelis Pantelidis was not popular only in Greece but also in the Balkans and the rest of Europe but also in the USA, Australia, Canada, even in far away Mexico.
Music is universal RIP little song bird.