In pictures: Pim Fortuyn's funeral

Thousands of people lined the streets of Rotterdam to pay a final farewell to the Netherlands' controversial politician Pim Fortuyn.

Mourners threw flowers onto the hearse which carried Fortuyn's body on a final tour of his home city

Fortuyn's murder has stunned the Netherlands, where there has not been a political assassination for 300 years

Pallbearers carried the coffin into Rotterdam's Laurentius and Elisabeth Cathedral

The Bishop of Rotterdam described Fortuyn as a man of whom many had "great expectations"

After the service, Fortuyn's body was driven to his family tomb in the town of Driehuis-Westerveld.

Many people openly expressed their grief at the death of Fortuyn, who was widely tipped to do well in next week's elections