SEOUL — Men and women lined the streets of downtown Seoul and wept during the funeral procession Friday for former president Roh Moo-hyun, a former crusader against corruption who jumped off a cliff to his death May 23 amid a widening bribery scandal.

Roh, 62, left office just 15 months ago. During his political career, he spoke out against the rampant corruption and bribery in South Korea’s government and was widely viewed as expanding the country’s young democracy during his five years in office.

Thousands of riot police also lined the streets to prevent demonstrations and to protect current President Lee Myung-bak, who many believe spearheaded an aggressive investigation that drove Roh to commit suicide. Angry mourners jeered at Lee’s car during the funeral procession.

"This is political and cultural murder. It cannot be more cruel," said a crying Kim Jung-woo, 47.

About 2,500 dignitaries and invited guests attended a funeral in the courtyard at Gyeongbukgong, the city’s ancient palace, including a U.S. delegation led by Ambassador Kathleen Stephens. No U.S. Forces Korea officials attended.

Outside the palace walls, mourners wearing yellow hats — the color Roh used in his campaign — waited for hours to see the funeral procession and watched live broadcasts of the ceremony on their cell phones and giant screens across the city. Many threw yellow paper airplanes at Roh’s hearse and sobbed as it passed. After the procession arrived at City Hall, a ceremony was held there for the public.

Namdaemun police said 160,000 people attended the event, although some citizens’ groups estimated the crowd at a quarter of a million people or more.

Roh’s death has riveted the country during one of the most tense weeks in recent history with North Korea. The communist North conducted its second nuclear test Monday and fired several missiles during the week, pushing the U.S. and South Korea to raise their surveillance to the second-highest level.

Along the procession, Park Gwang-ho said he worries more about North Korea, because he doesn’t think Lee is capable of dealing with the communist country.

"His inability will likely plunge South Korea into a riskier situation," he said. "He doesn’t seem to understand the current situation very well. No one knows what he has in mind."

Many people Friday said Lee, already growing unpopular before Roh’s death, has little to no support among South Koreans right now. A steady stream of mourners stopped at tables outside the grassy City Hall plaza and signed petitions asking for Lee’s resignation.

"Lee doesn’t want to communicate with people," said Jung Ji-hyun, a 34-year-old film student. "He cuts us off."

Jung Joseph, 29, said he admired Roh’s morality and integrity. But under Lee, whom he called dishonest, Korea’s "democracy is reverting back to the 1970s," he said.

After the end of the Korean War in 1953, South Korea was mostly governed by a string of politically repressive leaders until the late 1980s.

Lee had high approval ratings when he took office in February 2008, but his popularity plummeted last year when he agreed to allow American beef — which many Koreans feared was tainted with mad cow disease — to be sold in South Korea.

Roh was controversial during his lifetime but is popular after his death, said Mark Monahan, a professor of Asian studies at University of Maryland University College.

"The reason why people are really sad for him is because he was so poor and was kind of a self-made person, like Abraham Lincoln," he said. "He was representing common people."

Roh was a former human rights lawyer who never attended college. And in a country with a history of corrupt politicians, his death sparked an outpouring of grief among South Koreans who say he was the most honest president they’ve had, despite the corruption allegations.

Monahan contended that in a Confucian society, where losing face means losing authority, it was easy for South Koreans to understand why Roh committed suicide during the investigation.

"Honor is very important for this society. If you don’t have it, you’re not human, and people won’t talk to you anymore. You’re totally isolated," Monahan said.