Special traffic arrangements will be in place around the Holy Trinity Church in Limassol on Thursday for the funeral of Popi Christoforou, with large numbers of mourners expected to attend, police said on Wednesday.

The funeral service for Christoforou, mother of twin National Guardsmen Miltos and Christos Christoforou, will begin at 2pm.

Police and the Limassol municipal traffic department have urged those attending to avoid travelling to the church by car where possible and use municipal parking facilities in the area.

Available parking includes the multi-storey municipal car park on Salaminos Street, the municipal car parks in Epichosi and other municipal parking areas.

Those who need to approach the church by car have been asked to use Zenonos Street in a southerly direction.

Only the eastern entrance to the church will remain open for vehicles.

Christoforou died on Sunday after battling cancer.

She became a prominent figure among the relatives of the 13 people killed in the July 11, 2011 explosion at the Evangelos Florakis naval base in Mari, after losing her twin sons in the disaster.

She campaigned for accountability and justice following the explosion and had left detailed instructions for her funeral.

She asked mourners to wear white and requested to be buried in her father’s grave rather than at Sfalangiotissa cemetery, where her sons are buried.

President Nikos Christodoulides described her as a “symbol of inner strength, dignity and determination”, saying she had turned the pain of losing her sons into a continuing struggle “for justice, responsibility and accountability”.

The Limassol municipality described her as “a mother who became a symbol”, while House president Annita Demetriou said Cyprus had lost “the heroic mother who became a symbol of the Mari tragedy”.