Hundreds of thousands of people flocked to Bangladesh’s presidential palace Thursday to pay their last respects to president Zillur Rahman after he died in a Singapore hospital.

Carrying flowers and wreaths, people from all walks of life, including women and children, filed past his open coffin on display at Dhaka’s Bangabhaban palace, saluting a leader who had one of the nation’s most illustrious political careers. Rahman died at the age of 84 on Wednesday after playing lead roles in the country’s democratic struggles, including its liberation war. “He was a very good man and a perfect gentleman,” said Mostofa Kawser, 35, who placed a flower on the late president’s coffin.