At least 10,000 people . . . many clutching photographs of the late Serbian leader and shouting "Slobo the Serb!" . . . gathered around a large, red-carpeted outdoor stage. As Milosevic's coffin was placed on a bier, the crowd erupted into chants of "Slobo!

Slobo!" Many wept uncontrollably in an outpouring of collective grief as a death march blared from loudspeakers.

Some carried Serbian flags or banners of Milosevic's Socialist Party, which organised his private funeral after authorities refused to approve an official state ceremony. Others held photos of Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic and General Ratko Mladic, who top the UN war crimes tribunal's most-wanted list.

'Slobo is a hero and heroes never die, ' read one banner held aloft. 'Tribunal kills, ' said another.

Tens of thousands of Serbs were expected to attend, their admiration unshaken despite Milosevic's legacy of blood-letting. Some were bussed in from Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo, where Milosevic started wars in the 1990s.

Some drivers passing by the scene honked their horns and made obscene gestures at the Milosevic supporters, most of whom appeared to be middle-aged.

"I came to say goodbye to the greatest son of Serbia, " said Bosko Nikolic, 42, from the southwestern Serbian town of Prokuplje, holding a huge poster of Milosevic.

Milosevic died a week ago in his room in a detention centre near the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, which was trying him on 66 counts of war crimes, including genocide. He was the first head of state to be extradited by his country for trial by the UN court.

Milosevic's Socialists and ultranationalists, ousted from power along with Milosevic in 2000, hoped to make political gains from their leader's death. They invited hundreds of thousands of his die-hard supporters to his "final farewell" in Belgrade and the burial in his hometown of Pozarevac, about 30 miles south of the capital.

Police said they did not expect any trouble, despite reports that opponents of Milosevic might be planning an afternoon rally on Belgrade's Republic Square, not far from the parliament building, where a massive protest led to his ousting on 5 October 2000.

From Belgrade, Milosevic's body was to be driven to Pozarevac to his family compound. There, in the backyard . . . beneath a linden tree where he first kissed his wife, Mirjana Markovic . . . Milosevic will be interred in a double grave with space for his widow, who said she wants to be buried with him when she dies, Serbia's state television reported.

Security was tight in Pozarevac, with police on heightened alert and extra ambulances parked around town. A curtain of red roses, the Socialists' symbol, hung over the entrance to the estate. Socialist organisers of the ceremony said no member of the immediate family would attend.

Markovic, in self-imposed exile in Russia, faces Serbian charges of abuse of power during Milosevic's 13-year reign.

Milosevic's daughter, Marija, told the Montenegrin newspaper Dan that she would demand the exhumation of her father's body for "a proper burial" in Montenegro, where she now lives. She said the Pozarevac home belongs to the family of her mother, from whom she is estranged.

"It's not his home and I will not allow his burial there, " she said, confirming she would not attend.

Organisers said 70,000 people had viewed the coffin in two days of public display at Belgrade's Museum of Revolution. But the turnout was much lower than organisers' predictions of hundreds of thousands and nowhere near the huge crowds Milosevic commanded in his heyday, when his fiery speeches inspired his followers to take part in the 1990s wars.

Milosevic's lawyers alleged he was poisoned, but the tribunal said Friday that an autopsy and toxicology tests showed there were no medicines in the body in quantities high enough to kill him.

About 200 supporters rushed the stage in a scramble to get closer to the coffin before they were restrained by security guards.

As the crowd became restless, authorities deployed about 350 extra police officers, and dozens of helmeted riot police took up precautionary positions around the square as the farewell ceremony got under way.

Ramsey Clark, a former US attorney general and long-time Milosevic supporter who is now on Saddam Hussein's defence team, was also in the crowd.

"It is critically important to remember his struggle to preserve Yugoslavia, " he said. "He became president at a time of greatest crisis.

Everyone knew his health was failing but he was not granted proper medical care. Amid the struggle, his heart gave up."

The hearse later headed to the industrial town of Pozarevac for another public farewell. Knots of admirers gathered along the highway, waving to the convoy and tossing flowers on to the road.