\\\'Today, Paris is capital of world\\\' as thousands gather for historic march of defiance and sorrow

FE Team | Published: January 12, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

PARIS, Jan 11 (agencies): French President Francois Hollande said Sunday that "today, Paris is the capital of the world," as thousands gathered in Paris to take part in a historic display of global defiance against extremism.
"The entire country will rise up," he told ministers, according to his entourage, as the country reels from an Islamist killing spree that left 17 people dead.
Huge crowds and some 40 world leaders have gathered in Paris for a unity march after 17 people were killed during three days of deadly attacks.
More than a million marchers are expected to take the streets.
Police are seeking accomplices of the gunmen who attacked satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket.
Ahead of the rally, a video emerged appearing to show supermarket gunman Amedy Coulibaly pledging allegiance to militant group Islamic State.
In the video, he said he was working with the Charlie Hebdo attackers: "We have split our team into two... to increase the impact of our actions."
Said and Cherif Kouachi - who were shot dead by police on Friday - killed 11 people at the magazine offices in the French capital on Wednesday, and a policeman in a nearby street.
Crowds poured into Paris Sunday for a march expected to unite more than a million people and dozens of world leaders in a historic display of defiance against terrorism.
In an unprecedented show of unity, the leaders of Israel and the Palestinian Authority will both be among those attending the rally to honour 17 victims of three days of bloodshed that included Jews and a Muslim police officer among the dead.
Under clear blue skies, emotions were already running high in the shell-shocked City of Light, with many people from all walks of life already in tears as they began to come together under the banner of freedom of speech and liberty.
Lassina Traore, a 34-year-old French-born Muslim from the Ivory Coast, gently placed 17 candles at the foot of the iconic monument of the Place de la Republique, heaped with tributes to the dead.
The march is "a real sign of how strong France is. It shows that France is strong when she is united against these people," said the consultant.
"I want to show that we're not scared of the extremists. I want to defend freedom of expression," said 70-year-old Jacqueline Saad-Rouana.
The families of those who died in the three blood-soaked days that shook France to its core will rub shoulders with royalty and heads of state within an iron ring of security.
Defences were beefed up in a jittery Paris still reeling from the Islamist attacks on the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine and a Jewish supermarket, with thousands of extra troops and police deployed to guard the march and snipers positioned along the route.
"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 supermarket.
In a foretaste of the 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 symbolise freedom of expression after the magazine was targeted for its cartoons lampooning the Prophet Mohammed.
Along with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas, the king and queen of Jordan will be present and a host of top European leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron.
US President Barack Obama will be represented by Attorney General Eric Holder, who will also take part in an emergency meeting of interior ministers to discuss the threats posed by Islamic extremism.
Speaking on a visit to India, US Secretary of State John Kerry said: "We stand together this morning with the people of France. We stand together not just in anger and outrage but in solidarity and commitment in confronting extremists."
President Francois Hollande, who will lead the tributes to the victims, has warned his grieving country not to drop its guard in the face of possible new attacks.
Hollande met representatives from the Jewish community ahead of the march and its head said authorities had agreed to protect Jewish schools and synagogues with the army "if necessary."
The rampage by three gunmen, who claimed to be members of the Al-Qaeda and Islamic State extremist groups, was followed by a chilling new threat from the Yemen-based Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.