Thais flocked to the Grand Palace to see the coffin of their late King.
Grabbing the opportunity to see the late king, tens of thousands of Thais lined up outside the Grand Palace of Bangkok on Saturday.
This was after the public was granted its first chance to enter the throne hall where the body of late King Bhumibol Adulyadej is lying in state, after he died on October 13.
Bhumibol died at the age of 88 and he was adored by many of his subjects and seen as an anchor of stability in a kingdom rocked by turbulent politics many years ago.
Following his death, a year period of mourning was declared in Thailand where residents rushed to markets to buy black shirts and other garments.
For the past two weeks, crowds have massed outside the Grand Palace to pay tribute before a portrait of the monarch. The Palace is a compound of shimmering temples and pavilions in Bangkok’s old quarter.
Although Thais have been staying there for some time, it was on Saturday when the public has been allowed for the first time to enter the decorated throne hall where his body is lying in a coffin behind a gilded urn.
Thai authorities have said that 10,000 mourners will be allowed to enter the throne hall per day, in small batches.
“I have been waiting here since 1:00am,” said an 84-year-old Saman Daoruang sitting in a queue of thousands that snaked around a large field outside the palace.
He is from northern Nakhon Sawan province, and like many in the crowd, Saman has been sleeping in a tent on the grassy parade grounds since he arrived in Bangkok by train.
“But I haven’t been able to sleep because I was so thrilled and proud to come here,” he told AFP, clutching several portraits of the monarch.
The arch-royalist military government of Thailand, which came to power in a 2014 coup, has encouraged displays of the residents of devotion for the late king and helped arrange a flurry of free bus, train and boat rides to move mourners to the capital.