People queue near Tower Bridge to pay their respects following the death of Britain's Queen Elizabeth, in London, Britain, September 16, 2022. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis
LONDON: The queue to see Queen Elizabeth lying in state in London was temporarily closed on Friday after reaching capacity, the government said, as officials warned of waiting times of at least 14 hours.
"Entry (to the queue) will be paused for at least 6 hours," Britain's culture department said on Twitter. "Please do not attempt to join the queue until it re-opens."
The constantly moving queue is snaking its way from Southwark Park in central south-east London to Westminster Hall, where some 750,000 people in total are expected to file past the Queen's coffin before Monday morning.
"I've no sensation in my knees at all or my legs," said Hyacinth Appah, a mourner from London who was in the queue.
"But it's been fine. Most of the people have been lovely and we've had quite a nice time."
The queue was around 4.9 miles long as of 0900 GMT, the culture department's live queue tracker showed.
