Klagenfurt, Austria - Karin Zloebl started crying when she spoke of Joerg Haider, the late far-right leader who was commemorated Saturday in an elaborate public ceremony in the town of Klagenfurt.

"It is very, very hard," she said about the death of the governor of the Carinthia province, who had personally helped her son find a job.

Klagenfurt, Austria  - One week after Joerg Haider died in a car accident, politicians and 25,000 Austrians gathered Saturday in the town of Klagenfurt to commemorate the far-right politician.

In a grand official ceremony that took place before the private funeral, the coffin of the late governor of Carinthia was led in a procession around the centre of the provincial capital, watched by masses dressed in black or in traditional dirndl dresses and lederhosen.

Klagenfurt, Austria  - One week after Austrian far-right leader Joerg Haider died in a car accident, his funeral, expected to be a grand official ceremony, was due to be held Saturday in the town of Klagenfurt.

With at least 30,000 people expected to attend the event in the capital of Austria's southern province of Carinthia, the Austrian railway company was running additional trains to cope with the masses.

The memorial service was to be attended by President Heinz Fischer, Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer and several ministers, but it was above all set up as an event for the public.