Millions Rally for Unity Against Terrorism in France

More than a million people surged through the boulevards of Paris behind dozens of world leaders walking arm-in-arm Sunday in a rally for unity described as the largest demonstration in French history. Millions more marched around the country and the world to repudiate three days of terror that killed 17 people and changed France.

Amid intense security and with throngs rivaling those that followed the liberation of Paris from the Nazis, the city became “the capital of the world” for a day, on a planet increasingly vulnerable to such cruelty.

More than 40 world leaders headed the somber procession — Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas; Ukranian President Petro Poroshenko and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov — setting aside their differences with a common rallying cry: We stand together against barbarity, and we are all Charlie.

At least 1.2 million to 1.6 million people streamed slowly through the streets behind them and across France to mourn the victims of deadly attacks on the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, a kosher supermarket and police officers — violence that tore deep into the nation’s sense of security in a way some compared to Sept. 11 in the United States.

“Our entire country will rise up toward something better,” Hollande said.

The attacks tested France’s proud commitment to its liberties, which authorities may now curtail to ensure greater security. Marchers recognized this as a watershed moment.

“It’s a different world today,” said Michel Thiebault, 70.

Illustrating his point, there were cheers Sunday for police vans that wove through the crowds — a rare sight at the many demonstrations that the French have staged throughout their rebellious history, when protesters and police are often at odds.

Giant rallies were held throughout France and major cities around the world, including London, Madrid and New York — all attacked by al-Qaida-linked terrorists — as well as Cairo, Sydney, Stockholm, Tokyo and elsewhere.

In Paris, the Interior Ministry said “the size of this unprecedented demonstration makes it impossible to provide a specific count,” noting that the crowds were too big to fit on the official march route and spread to other streets.

Later, the ministry said 3.7 million marched throughout France, including roughly between 1.2 million and 1.6 million in Paris — but added that a precise count is impossible given the enormity of the turnout.

“I hope that at the end of the day everyone is united. Everyone — Muslims, Jews, Christians, Buddhists,” said marcher Zakaria Moumni. “We are humans first of all, and nobody deserves to be murdered like that. Nobody.”

On Republic Square, deafening applause rang out as the world leaders walked past, amid tight security and an atmosphere of togetherness amid adversity. Families of the victims, holding each other for support, marched in the front along with the leaders and with journalists working for the Charlie Hebdo newspaper. Several wept openly.

“Je Suis Charlie” — “I Am Charlie,” read legions of posters and banners. Many waved editorial cartoons, the French tricolor and other national flags.

At an international conference in India, Secretary of State John Kerry said the world stood with the people of France “not just in anger and in outrage, but in solidarity and commitment to the cause of confronting extremism and in the cause that extremists fear so much and that has always united our countries: freedom.”

France remains on high alert while investigators determine whether the attackers were part of a larger extremist network. More than 5,500 police and soldiers were deployed Sunday across France, guarding marches, synagogues, mosques, schools and other sites.

“The terrorists want two things: they want to scare us and they want to divide us,” Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told media channel iTele. “We must do the opposite: We must stand up and we must stay united.”

This article appeared in print on page 6 of the January 12th, 2015 edition of Hamodia.