Tight security for Lindh's memorial service

Stockholm was placed under tight security today, with hundreds of police in the streets of the Swedish capital to protect foreign leaders at a memorial service for murdered Foreign Minister Anna Lindh.

Police and security agents cordoned off streets and diverted traffic around Stockholm City Hall and all private flights were banned from over the city centre.

Inside the large red-bricked hall, where the annual Nobel Prize banquet is held, a photograph of Lindh, a rose attached to the frame, sat on the stage, surrounded by blue, red and white flowers.

Dignitaries included EC President Romano Prodi, UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin, and German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer.

In the hunt for Lindh’s killer, police said have they have the results from DNA testing that could link a 35-year-old drifter in custody to Lindh’s murder.

They would not say if it matched genetic material found near the crime scene.

Prosecutors must decide today whether to keep the suspect in custody for another week. His lawyer, Gunnar Falk, said the man was not involved in the killing.

Lindh, 46-year-old mother of two, was touted as a future prime minister. She was stabbed in the chest, stomach and arms as she shopped in a department store. After hours of surgery, she died the next day.