More than a million people flooded Paris this afternoon in an unprecedented rally against terrorism, led by dozens of world leaders walking arm in arm as cries of “Freedom” and “Charlie” rang out.
A sea of humanity flowed through Paris’ iconic streets to mourn the victims of the three days of terror that began with the slaughter of 12 people at the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. “Freedom! Freedom!, “Charlie! Charlie!” chanted the vast crowd, in honour of the cartoonists and journalists killed at Charlie Hebdo over its depiction of the Prophet Mohammed.
Emotions ran high in the grieving City of Light, with many of those marching bursting into tears as they came together under the banner of freedom of speech and liberty after France’s worst terrorist bloodbath in over half a century.
The crowd brandished banners saying: “I’m French and I’m not scared” and, in tribute to the murdered cartoonists, “Make fun, not war” and “Ink should flow, not blood.” The interior ministry said turnout for the Paris rally was “unprecedented” while French television said rallies across the nation were unseen since the 1944 Liberation of Paris from Nazi occupation.
Isabelle Dahmani, a French Christian married to a Muslim, Mohamed, brought their three young children to show them there is nothing to fear. Their nine-year-old daughter burst into tears watching the news this week, Isabelle said, adding she had asked if “the bad men are coming to our house?”
The grieving families of those who died in the shootings led the march, alongside the representatives of around 50 countries. Patrick Pelloux, a Charlie Hebdo columnist, fell sobbing into the arms of Hollande in an emotional embrace.
With dozens of world leaders present including British Prime Minister David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, EU President Donald Tusk, and Jordan’s King Abdullah II joined the beginning of the Paris march , security in the jittery French capital was beefed up, with police snipers stationed on rooftops and plain-clothes officers among the crowd in a city still reeling from the Islamist attacks.
“Today, Paris is the capital of the world,” Hollande said. “The entire country will rise up.”
More than a million also rallied in cities outside the capital and marches were held in several cities across Europe, including Berlin, Brussels and Madrid.
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi pledged that Europe, “will win the challenge against terrorism”. Earlier he had tweeted using the hashtag #jesuischarlie (I am Charlie), which has already been used more than five million times.
US President Barack Obama was represented by Attorney General Eric Holder, who took part in an emergency meeting of interior ministers to discuss the threats from Islamic extremism.
The ministers urged a strengthening of the EU external borders to limit the movement of extremists returning to Europe from the Middle East and said there was an “urgent need” to share air passenger information.
