Thousands pay their respects to renowned Albanian writer Ismail Kadare at his state funeral

TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Thousands of people have paid their last respects to Ismail Kadare in a state funeral in Tirana Wednesday, with a minute’s silence held nationwide in memory of the renowned Albanian novelist and poet who died earlier this week. Kadare’s coffin, surrounded by National Guard officers, lay in state in the entrance hall of the Opera and Ballet Theater in the capital’s central Skanderbeg Square as his poems were recited in the background.