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Argentines Bid a Raucous Farewell to Maradona Amid Clashes

Associated Press

   BUENOS AIRES - Soccer superstar Diego Maradona was buried Thursday in a
   private ceremony attended by two dozen people -- a stark contrast to
   earlier in the day when tens of thousands of weeping fans filed past
   his coffin for hours in an observance that mixed head-of-state-like
   honors with the chaos of a rowdy stadium.

   Only family members and close friends were permitted at JardĂn Bella
   Vista cemetery for the final religious ceremony and burial of Maradona
   next to the graves of his parents, Dalma and Diego.

   Fans waving Argentine flags had gathered along roads as Maradona's
   funeral car drove by under heavy security. Many tried to touch the
   vehicle whenever it was stopped by traffic.

   The earlier viewing at the Argentine presidential mansion was halted
   shortly before 6 p.m., 12 hours after it started, as Maradona's family
   wished. The body of the Argentine icon was taken away for burial,
   frustrating many who were waiting to pay their respects and causing new
   tensions at the gates of the cemetery.

   Fans, some draped in the national flag, sang soccer anthems as they
   formed a line that stretched more than 20 blocks from the Plaza de
   Mayo, where Argentines gathered to celebrate the Maradona-led triumph
   in the 1986 World Cup.

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