Crowds applaud MP Jo Cox's funeral cortege

People have lined the streets to pay their respects to slain Labour MP Jo Cox before a private funeral.

People hold banners of Jo Cox during a special service .

People hold banners of Jo Cox during a special service .

Hundreds of people have lined the streets to pay their respects to Labour MP Jo Cox before her private funeral.

Cox's funeral cortege travelled through her Batley and Spen constituency in West Yorkshire, slowing down in the town of Heckmondwike before continuing to Batley.

The mother of two young children died on June 16 after being shot and stabbed outside a library in Birstall.

Her killing provoked a wave of shock around the UK and across the world.

Members of the public, including schoolchildren, gathered in Heckmondwike to say a final farewell to the MP.

Well-wishers applauded as the funeral cars made the journey through the town. Many threw flowers in the path of the cortege as it passed the market place.

A 52-year-old unemployed man with a history of mental illness who had sympathised with racist and right-wing extremist groups has been charged with murder.

Earlier former prime minister David Cameron and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who both backed Britain remaining in the European Union, appeared together at a vigil for Cox.

In their tributes, Corbyn said Cox was killed by "an act of hatred" that constituted an "attack on democracy," while Cameron said parliament had lost "one of its most passionate and brilliant campaigners."

"Jo's killing was an act of terror designed to advance hatred against others ... [but] it has advanced an outpouring of love," an emotional widower Brendan Cox told hundreds friends and supporters at a June 22 ceremony in London to mark what would have been his wife's 42nd birthday.


Share
2 min read

Published

Updated

Source: AAP


Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world
Crowds applaud MP Jo Cox's funeral cortege | SBS News