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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
National
Kieran Isgin

Mourners in tears after being turned away from Queen’s lying in state

Mourners have been left in tears after queuing up all night only to be turned away from the Queen's lying in state.

Dozens of well-wishers were prevented from advancing any closer to Westminster Hall by police in the early hours of this morning. Some, who were left in tears, complained to police that they had been "lied to" earlier on in the night about their chance of being able to see the Queen's coffin in Westminster.

One of those who were turned away was Albert who joined the queue without a wristband at 10pm last night. He claimed that the government's official live feed was not kept up-to-date with information that no further wristbands would be given out to mourners.

Read more: Queen's funeral LIVE as nation comes to a standstill for state funeral of Elizabeth II

"The communication has been terrible," Albert said. He added: "There were loads of people who joined the official queue based on the website, but never received wristbands.

“And in the queue they didn’t give us any information – just to be disrespectful to us when we got here (Lambeth Bridge) in the end.“ Last night, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said that the final people had been admitted to the line.

The department said: “The queue to attend Her Majesty The Queen’s Lying-in-State is at final capacity and is now closed to new entrants. Please do not attempt to join the queue.

“Stewards will manage those already nearby. Thank you for your understanding.”

It comes after thousands of people made the long journey to pay their respects to Queen Elizabeth II. Waiting times peaked at around 10am when people were expected to be in line for 14 hours.

By 9pm, the waiting time only reduced slightly to seven hours. At 8pm, everyone in the quque stopped and bowed their heads to observe a national minute of silence.

Following this, they all applauded while dozens of Metropolitan Police officers assembed to sing the national anthem. The final mourner to view the Queen's coffin did so at 6.30am this morning.

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