Millions march against terrorism in France’s biggest rally

Paris: More than a million people thronged the streets of Paris Sunday in the biggest rally in French history, led by dozens of world leaders walking arm-in-arm as cries of "Freedom" and "Charlie" rang out across the country.

The interior ministry said 3.7 million people took to the streets nationwide, with Paris alone seeing an "unprecedented" 1.5 million demonstrators.

In the capital, President Francois Hollande linked arms with world leaders, including the Israeli prime minister and the Palestinian president, in an historic display of unity.

A sea of humanity flowed through Paris´ iconic streets to mourn the victims of the three days of terror that began with a slaughter at the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and ended with 17 dead.

Emotions ran high in the grieving City of Light, with many of those marching in tears as they came together under the banner of freedom of speech after France´s worst terrorist bloodbath in 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."

Isabelle Dahmani, a French Christian married to a Muslim, Mohamed, brought the couple´s three young children to show them there is nothing to fear.

Their nine-year-old daughter had burst into tears watching TV pictures of heavily armed brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi attacking the magazine´s offices, Isabelle said, recalling she had asked if "the bad men are coming to our house?"

The mourning 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, 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 attacks.

"Today, Paris is the capital of the world," Hollande said. "The entire country will rise up."

Hundreds of thousands of people turned out in other French cities and marches were held in several European capitals, including Berlin, Brussels and Madrid.


- ´We will win´ -

British Prime Minister David Cameron predicted Europe would face the threat of extremism "for many years to come", but his Italian counterpart Matteo Renzi pledged that Europe "will win the challenge against terrorism".

Earlier Renzi had tweeted using the hashtag #jesuischarlie (I am Charlie), which has been used more than five million times.

Before the march, interior and security ministers met to discuss extremism.

They urged a strengthening of the EU external borders to limit the movement of extremists between Europe and the Middle East and said there was an "urgent need" to share air passenger information.

All three of the gunmen in the attacks had a history of extremism and were known previously to French intelligence.

Hollande has warned his traumatised country not to drop its guard in the face of possible new assaults. (AFP)