Tens of thousands of Americans packed the State Farm football stadium in Glendale, Arizona, for Charlie Kirk’s memorial service last night. Police in Glendale said that over 100 000 people had arrived for the funeral and some had to be turned away. Hundreds of thousands watched the service broadcast live.

Kirk was assassinated by a lone gunman whilst speaking at Utah Valley University on 10 September.

Charlie Kirk was the founder of Turning Point USA, which educates people at high schools and universities about limited government, free markets, and freedom. He rose to prominence as a particularly influential thinker at the height of America’s culture wars and was widely seen as the most influential youth leader in America, with insiders tipping him as a plausible future US President. Left-wing activists in America had long directed threats at Kirk, who was a devout Christian, and his organisation.

President Trump, JD Vance, and a host of senior American leaders and cabinet members attended and spoke at the memorial service.

In his address, President Trump said “today America is a nation in shock...grieving…Charles Kirk was violently killed because he spoke for freedom and justice for reason and common sense…he’s a martyr now for American freedom…none of us will ever forget Charlie Kirk and neither will history…his name will live forever in the chronicle of great American patriots”.

Kirk’s widow, Erika, who took the stage to continuous applause, said “God bless all of you for coming here from all over the world to honour my Charlie...11 days ago God accepted the total surrender of my husband…God’s love was revealed to me on the very day my husband was murdered...I looked directly at my husband’s murdered body…I saw the wound that ended his life…I felt shock…I felt horror...at a level I did not even know existed…I also saw this on his lips…the faintest smile…it revealed to me a great mercy from God in this tragedy…that Charlie did not suffer…one moment Charlie was doing what he loved…fighting for the gospel…and then he blinked and saw his saviour in paradise...and all the heavenly mysteries were revealed to him”.

She stressed that her husband had especially wanted his organisation to help young men in the West who felt alienated and without purpose “he wanted to save young men just like the one who took his life…God forgive them they know not what they do…the answer to hate is not hate…the answer is love…Charlie’s life was a miracle for this country let his life be a turning point for you as well...I love you Charlie, baby...I will make you proud…God bless you all...God bless America”.