Dozens of world leaders linked arms leading big crowds of French citizens in an unprecedented march under high security to pay tribute to victims of France attacks.
President Francois Hollande and leaders from Germany, Italy, Israel, Turkey, UK and Palestine among others, moved off from the central Place de la Republique ahead of a sea of French and other flags. US President Barack Obama was absent. Some 2,200 police and soldiers patrolled Paris streets to protect marchers from would-be attackers, with police snipers on rooftops and plain-clothes detectives mingling with the crowd.
The silent march reflected shock over the worst militant assault on a European city in nine years. "Paris is today the capital of the world. Our entire country will rise up and show its best side," said Hollande in a statement.
Seventeen people, including journalists and police, were killed in three days of violence that began with a shooting attack on the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine. It ended on Friday with a hostage-taking at a Jewish supermarket in which four hostages were killed.
Hours before the march, a video emerged featuring a man resembling the gunman killed in the kosher deli. He pledged allegiance to the Islamic State militant group and urged French Muslims to follow his example. A French anti-terrorist police source confirmed it was the killer, Amedy Coulibaly, speaking before the action.
