Austria pays tribute to late rightist Haider

KLAGENFURT, Austria (Reuters) - Thousands of Austrians mourned Joerg Haider Saturday, a far-right populist leader who died in a high-speed car crash a week ago.

Around 30,000 mourners attended Haider's memorial service in the capital of the Alpine province where he was governor for over a decade and was seen by many as a leader with a common touch who took on the political establishment in Vienna.

One of Austria's rare internationally recognized public figures, Haider led the right into a coalition government from 2000-2006 and helped thrust anti-immigrant politics into the European mainstream with his blunt and polarizing rhetoric.

Haider's modern populism, which also targeted what he saw as the loss of national sovereignty to European Union integration, helped break the grip on government of centrist parties he said were out of touch with grassroot concerns.

"Although he was controversial and contested, he spoke for European democracy," said Albert Gardin, 59, who had traveled from Venice to pay his respects. "(He) was not only local, Austrian, but had a European message. We represent a part of Europe that can relate to his position," he said.

Mourners, some dressed in traditional green and brown outfits, added wreaths to the dozens put outside the government headquarters since shortly after his fatal car accident in the early hours of October 11.

Some queued silently for hours Friday to pay tribute at his closed coffin, placing official photographs of the tanned and casually clothed Haider among red candles.

"He wasn't just a politician, he was a friend to everyone," said 27-year-old Yvonne Graessl. "He really looked after people in a personal way, to see if he could help them or not."

RECONSTRUCTION

Haider's body was carried to the central town square early Saturday, where local authorities held an open-air memorial ahead of a service in Klagenfurt's 16th-century cathedral.

He died when the luxury car he was driving at more than 140 kmh (85 mph), twice the speed limit, crashed off a road in Carinthia on his way to a family reunion.

Haider's spokesman and political successor, Stefan Petzner, said he had seen the famously fun-loving 58-year-old outside a night club shortly before his accident.

Haider's blood alcohol was nearly four times the legal limit and he was pronounced dead on arrival at hospital.

"Although it won't change anything about his death, I will try to reconstruct everything that happened," Petzner, Haider's 27-year-old protege, told Austrian daily Oesterreich Friday, adding he did not appear drunk the last time he had seen him.

A political chameleon with a passion for running and skiing, Haider burst back onto the scene this year at the head of a more conciliatory right-wing party Alliance for Austria's Future.

The far right, comprising of rivals Alliance and Haider's former party Freedom, won a combined one third of votes in a parliamentary election last month after voters turned away from the feuding mainstream governing parties.

Haider's notoriety peaked in the 1990s when he scolded Austria's government by citing the "proper labor policies" of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich. He had also referred to Nazi concentration camps as "penal camps" in a parliamentary debate, drawing sharp criticism at home and internationally.

(editing by Elizabeth Piper)