Demonstration 'will go down in history books'

Dozens of world leaders, including Muslim and Jewish statesmen, joined hundreds of thousands of French citizens marching in Paris amid high security in a tribute to victims of the recent Islamist militant attacks.

Hundreds of thousands of people gather at the Place de la Republique to attend a solidarity march on the streets of Paris yesterday. French citizens were joined by dozens of foreign leaders, among them Arab and Muslim representatives, in an unprecedented tribute to last week's victims of the attack at the offices of Charlie Hebdo, the hostage taking at a supermarket, and the killing of a policewoman. [Photo/Shanghai Daily]

French President Francois Hollande and leaders from Germany, Italy, Israel, Turkey, Britain and the Palestinian territories among others, moved off from the central Place de la Republique ahead of a sea of French and other flags.

Giant letters attached to a statue in the square spelled out the word "Pourquoi?" (Why?) and small groups sang the "La Marseillaise," the French national anthem.

Some 2,200 police and soldiers patrolled the streets of Paris to protect marchers from would-be attackers, with police snipers on rooftops and plain-clothes detectives mingling with the crowd.

City sewers were searched ahead of the vigil and underground train stations around the march route were closed down.

The silent march — which may prove the largest seen in modern times through Paris — reflects shock over the worst militant Islamist assault on a European city in nine years.

For France, it raised questions of free speech, religion and security, and beyond French frontiers it exposed the vulnerability of states to urban attacks.

"Paris is today the capital of the world. Our entire country will rise up and show its best side," said Hollande in a statement.

Twenty people, including the attackers, were killed in three days of violence that began with a shooting attack on the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday and ended with a hostage-taking at a Jewish deli in which four hostages were killed.

Overnight, an illuminated sign on the Arc de Triomphe read: "Paris est Charlie" ("Paris is Charlie").

"We're not going to let a little gang of hoodlums run our lives," said Fanny Appelbaum, 75, who said she lost two sisters and a brother in the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz. "Today, we are all one."

Zakaria Moumni, a 34-year-old Franco-Moroccan draped in the French flag, agreed.

"I am here to show the terrorists they have not won — it is bringing people together of all religions," Zakaria said.

Among the many children who had been brought along to the march, Loris Peres, 12, said: "For me this is paying respect to your loved ones, it's like family. We did a lesson about this at school."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister David Cameron and Italy Prime Minister Matteo Renzi were among 44 foreign leaders marching with Hollande.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu — who earlier encouraged French Jews to emigrate to Israel — and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas were also present.

"(The march) will be an unprecedented demonstration that will be go down in the history books," Prime Minister Manuel Valls said.

Twelve people were killed in Wednesday's initial attack on Charlie Hebdo, a journal know for satirizing religions and politicians.

The attackers, two French-born brothers of Algerian origin, singled out the weekly for its publication of cartoons depicting and ridiculing the Prophet Mohammad.

All three gunmen were killed in what local commentators have called "France's 9/11", a reference to the September 2001 attacks on US targets by al-Qaida.

The head of France's 550,000-strong Jewish community, Roger Cukierman, the largest in Europe, said Hollande had promised that Jewish schools and synagogues would have extra protection, by the army if necessary, after the killings.

"We have our sadness and our rage, we also have a number of urgent measures to take," Cukierman said after a meeting with Hollande. "They told us that all schools and all synagogues will be protected in measures that, if necessary, extend beyond the police to the army."

France's Agence Juive, which tracks Jewish emigration, estimates that more than 5,000 Jews left France for Israel last year, up from 3,300 in 2013, itself a 73 percent increase on 2012.