THOUSANDS of mourners gathered in Hanoi today for the second day of the funeral of the Communist Party general secretary Nguyen Phu Trong.

Mr Trong’s coffin, draped in the red and yellow of Vietnam’s flag, was laid beneath his smiling portrait and dozens of medals at the National Funeral House in Hanoi on Thursday. 

All flags in the south-east Asian nation flew at half-mast during the two-day period of national mourning, while all sports and entertainment were suspended.