BUENOS AIRES, (Reuters) – Tens of thousands of  Argentines lined the streets yesterday to watch the funeral  procession of former President Raul Alfonsin in a public  display of gratitude for a leader who stood up to the military  dictators of the 1970s.

Alfonsin, who led country from 1983 to 1989, the period  right after the bloody “Dirty War” waged by the military, died  on Tuesday at 82 of lung cancer. He was considered the father  of Argentina’s current period of democracy.

More than 40,000 people waited for hours on Wednesday to  file past Alfonsin’s open casket in Congress.

Thousands more attended an outdoor funeral mass on Thursday  before his coffin was carried in an open vehicle to the  historic Recoleta cemetery, where many important Argentines are  buried, including iconic first lady Eva Peron.