French President Francois Hollande and leaders including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas marched at the front of the mammoth procession, which began near where gunmen killed 12 people at satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. A sea of humanity flowed through Paris iconic streets, breaking into applause and spontaneous renditions of the national anthem, as a shell-shocked France mourned the victims of three days of bloody violence. Charlie! Charlie! chanted the vast crowd, in honour of the cartoonists and journalists killed at Charlie Hebdo over its lampooning of the Prophet Mohammed. Emotions ran high in the grieving City of Light, with many of those marching bursting into tears as they came together under the banner of freedom of speech and liberty after Frances worst terrorist bloodbath in more than half a century. Lassina Traore, a 34-year-old French-born Muslim from the Ivory Coast, said the march is a real sign of how strong France is. It shows that France is strong when she is united against these people. Netanyahu and Abbas presence was a stark demonstration of such unity, as they honoured victims that included four Jews at a kosher supermarket and a Muslim police officer.
Posted on: Mon, 12 Jan 2015 13:15:38 +0000
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