Former opponents and prisoners of Poland's last communist leader, General Wojciech Jaruzelski, have joined mourners at his funeral but protesters outside underscored the nation's mixed feelings about the man who imposed military rule in 1981.
Former President Lech Walesa and President Bronislaw Komorowski attended a Catholic Mass for Jaruzelski in a Warsaw military cathedral on Friday. His ashes were to be buried with honours in an army cemetery.
The religious ceremony, held at the family's request, was unexpected. Jaruzelski was a devoted supporter of Soviet-backed communism, an ideology foisted on his largely Catholic homeland mainly against its will.
But he died a religious man, returning to the faith of his childhood. Soon before his death last Sunday at age 90 Jaruzelski called for a priest to administer last rites, made his confession and took communion.
Jaruzelski died after a long battle with cancer and a stroke. His death came 10 days before the 25th anniversary of the first partly free elections on June 4, 1989, which led to the collapse of communism and his own eventual loss of power.
The presence of Walesa and Komorowski reflected the degree of reconciliation that has occurred between former communists and those who peacefully overthrew him.
Jaruzelski imposed martial law on Poland in 1981 in an attempt to crush Walesa's Solidarity freedom movement. About 100 people died in the crackdown, and Walesa and Komorowski were among tens of thousands of activists who were imprisoned.
Eight years later, however, Jaruzelski allowed the peaceful dismantling of the Soviet-backed system and served for a short time as the first president of the new democracy until Walesa succeeded him.
Jaruzelski maintained that he imposed martial law to try to spare Poland a Soviet invasion.
In brief remarks, Komorowski acknowledged the difficulty of Jaruzelski's decision to impose martial law, calling him "a man who carried the burden of responsibility for the most difficult and probably the most dramatic decision in Poland's history after World War II."
He praised Jaruzelski for allowing a peaceful political transition "that brought fruit in the form of our freedom and independence."
In a poignant moment during the Mass, Walesa approached the grieving family and shook hands with Jaruzelski's widow, daughter and grandson.
Yet Poles still have very mixed feelings about Jaruzelski, something reflected in protests outside the church on Friday. A few mainly older Poles chanted and held up signs calling him a "traitor to the nation."
"A murderer is awaiting his sentence," said another banner.
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