Sawt Falasteen - French far-right firebrand Le Pen's funeral begins amid tight security

The funeral in his hometown of La Trinite-sur-Mer in the western Brittany region began in the presence of his daughter Marine Le Pen, who took over her polarising father's political mantle, other family members and close friends.

Authorities beefed up security ahead of the ceremony, with barriers erected around the cemetery and dozens of police mobilised.

Security was tightened and protests banned after hundreds took to the streets in Paris and other cities to pop champagne corks and celebrate Le Pen's death on Tuesday.

Marine Le Pen and one of her two sisters, Marie-Caroline, walked the few hundred metres between the family home and the small church of Saint-Joseph under blue skies in front of a small crowd of onlookers and several dozen journalists.

Neither Marion Marechal, Jean-Marie Le Pen's granddaughter and a prominent far-right politician, nor Jordan Bardella, the leader of the party Le Pen co-founded, now called the National Rally, were seen entering the church through the main entrance.

Around 200 people were expected to be seated inside the church. After the ceremony Le Pen will be buried in the vault where his parents rest.

"It's moving for me to pay my last respects to him here and to pray for the salvation of his soul," said one of the guests, Bruno Gollnisch, Jean-Marie Le Pen's one-time right-hand man.

"He was a joyful comrade!"

- 'He loved France' -

Some locals praised Le Pen's devotion to France.

"I came to pay tribute to a man who served France and loved France," one mourner said.

"We've come to pay tribute to a great man who had the courage to say things," said another. "He was a visionary. He loved France and its people and they had values that are being lost, like love of the nation."

On Friday, regional authorities issued an order banning demonstrations to avoid "the risk of disruption and counter-demonstrations likely to provoke clashes".

Separately, a ceremony will take place on January 16 at the Notre Dame du Val-de-Grace church in Paris that will be open to the public.

Opponents on the left said they could not mourn the death of a "fascist".

But the government condemned rallies celebrating Le Pen's passing, and Prime Minister Francois Bayrou described him as a "fighter" and "figure of French political life", comments that themselves caused consternation on the left.

Le Pen's staunchly anti-immigration National Front (FN) burst onto the frontline of French politics, and in 2002 he famously eliminated Socialist Lionel Jospin in presidential elections to make the run-off against right-winger Jacques Chirac.

- 'Devil of the Republic' -

Nicknamed "the devil of the Republic" by opponents, he was often openly racist, made no secret of anti-Semitic views -- for which he received criminal convictions -- and boasted of torturing prisoners during France's war against Algeria.

His politician daughter Marine Le Pen rapidly took steps towards making the far right an electable force, renaming it the National Rally (RN) and embarking on a policy known as "dediabolisation" (de-demonisation).

She slung her father out of the party for his anti-Semitism but the pair had reconciled in recent years.

President Emmanuel Macron did not make any personal comment on Le Pen's death, with his office issuing a terse written statement saying history would judge Le Pen and adding that the president sent his condolences to the family.

But Le Pen's death marked a sign of his political rehabilitation among senior RN figures who rushed to hail his contribution.

"He always served France and defended its identity and sovereignty," RN party chief Bardella, 29, said in a tribute mentioning none of the controversies that surrounded his life.

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R.Halabi--SF-PST