Police fire rubber bullets to disperse Maradona fans

Authorities moved to shut down access to the Casa Rosada presidential palace in central Buenos Aires ahead of a planned shutoff for the public wake.

Water cannons were deployed, with riot police and others on motorbikes trying to hold back the crowd, desperate to pay their respects to Maradona who died on Wednesday (November 25), aged 60.

Thousands of fans had been queuing for more than a mile through the streets of Buenos Aires since early on Thursday to see his casket, which is lying in state before a planned burial later in the evening.

The World Cup winner was taken by hearse late on Thursday to the Bella Vista cemetery on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, where his parents are also interred, for a small private ceremony of his family and close friends.