Hundreds of thousands of people joined by world leaders flooded Paris yesterday in a historic show of defiance and solidarity against terrorism following last week’s extremist attacks in the French capital.
As France mourned 17 victims of three days of bloodshed, among them Jews and a Muslim police officer, the leaders of Israel and the Palestinian Authority were among those attending the mass rally in Paris.
Under blue skies, emotions were running high in the shell-shocked City of Light, with many of those gathering from all walks of life already in tears as they came together under the banner of freedom of speech and liberty.
Photo: AFP
The families of those who died in the shootings that shook the country to its core were to be at the very front of the march, leading royalty and heads of state.
Security was beefed up for the ceremony, with police snipers stationed on rooftops and plainclothes officers among the crowd in a city still reeling from the extremist attacks that left 12 staff and policemen dead at the office of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and claimed four lives at a Jewish supermarket. A policewoman was also killed.
“Today, Paris is the capital of the world,” French President Francois Hollande said. “The entire country will rise up.”
“I have no doubt that millions of citizens will come to express their love of liberty, their love of fraternity,” French Prime Minister Manuel Valls told a poignant rally on Saturday near where a gunman killed four hostages at the kosher store.
In a preview of yesterday’s demonstration, more than 700,000 people poured onto the streets of cities across France on Saturday, many carrying banners reading: “Je suis Charlie” (I am Charlie), the tribute to Charlie Hebdo that has been the global rallying point in the wake of the slaughter.
Many brandished pens to symbolize freedom of expression after the magazine was targeted by brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi for publishing cartoons lampooning the Prophet Mohammed.
Along with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the king and queen of Jordan were to be present alongside a host of top European leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron.
US President Barack Obama was represented by US Attorney General Eric Holder, who took part in an emergency meeting of European interior ministers to discuss the threats from Islamic extremism.
Hollande, who led the tributes to the victims, has warned his grieving country not to drop its guard in the face of possible new attacks.
Wednesday’s attack on the Charlie Hebdo offices was the first act in France’s worst terrorist attacks in decades.
The Kouachi brothers methodically massacred 12 people and then led police on a two-day long chase, before they were then cornered at a printing house near Charles de Gaulle Airport on Friday. Separately, Amedy Coulibaly shot a policewoman to death and attacked the Paris kosher market, threatening more violence unless the police let the Kouachis go.
It all ended at dusk on Friday with near-simultaneous raids at the printing plant and the market that left all three gunmen dead.
Investigators are now trying to hunt down Coulibaly’s partner, 26-year-old Hayat Boumeddiene, who was initially suspected of having a role in the policewoman’s killing.
After she was described as “armed and dangerous” and on the loose in Paris, a Turkish security source told reporters that Boumeddiene had arrived in Turkey on Jan. 2 and had since likely traveled on to Syria.
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