the funeral of the student brings together 2,800 people in Versailles

Around 1,800 people were present at the church and 1,000 on the square, according to a police source at France Télévisions.

Some 2 800 people attended, Friday 27 September, at the funeral of Philippine, the 19 year old student years old found dead on Saturday in the Bois de Boulogne in Paris, France Télévisions learned from a police source. Saint-Louis Cathedral in Versailles (Yvelines), where the ceremony took place, welcomed 1 800 people, while 1 000 others listened from the front of the building.

The murder of the young student aroused emotion across the country, and opened a political debate around the criminal and administrative background of the suspect, a 22-year-old Moroccan, released after serving a prison sentence for rape, and pending expulsion.

The light wooden coffin of the young woman, a student at Paris-Dauphine University, was brought inside shortly before 1 p.m., preceded by a procession and accompanied by her family. Chants then rose up from inside the building.

The mass is celebrated by Father Pierre-Hervé Grosjean, priest of the parish of Montigny-Voisins, of which Philippine was one of the faithful. “We are here to cry, to pray”he declared in his homily, distributed to the press outside the cathedral. The priest also recalled Philippine’s religious commitment, particularly within her parish and the Scouts and Guides of France.

The already compact crowd on the square has thickened since the start of the funeral. Some on the square prayed, kneeling on the cobblestones. A discreet police presence was visible all around the square.