Thousands of wailing Ethiopians turned out Wednesday to greet the body of Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi as an official national mourning period began after his death in a Brussels hospital. A military band played as the coffin, draped in the national flag, was taken from an Ethiopian Airlines flight in the early hours of the morning, a ceremony also attended by political, military and religious leaders as well as diplomats. Deputy Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, 47, who has also been foreign minister since 2010, will take over interim power, officials said. He wept as the body was carried into the hearse. Meles died overnight Monday to Tuesday following a long illness. The 57-year-old had not been seen in public since the G20 summit in Mexico in June. His wife, Azeb Mesfin, was seen leaving the plane dressed in black, as people carried candles or portraits of Meles, following a convoy of cars accompanying the body. The coffin was taken to the prime minister’s official residence at the national palace, where Meles’s body will lie in state until the funeral, said national television, which broadcast live footage from Addis Ababa streets as the coffin passed slowly. In shops and offices across the city, coverage of the leader’s death blared from televisions and radios. No date for the funeral has been set.