700,000 people rally in France in wake of terrorist attacks
Date January 11, 2015 - 10:40AM
France united: Carrying a banner that read "Je suis Charlie", thousands of people rallied in the city of Lille on January 10, 2015, following three days of terror. Photo: Denis Charlet
PARIS - Around 700,000 people poured out onto streets across France on Saturday to pay tribute to the 17 people killed during three days of terror.
It comes on the eve of a rally to be held in Paris, which is expected to attract several hundred thousand people, as well as a string of world leaders.
In the southern city of Toulouse, police said around 80,000 people took part in a march, with the "enormous" procession stretching up to 2km, according to an AFP journalist.
"Live together, free, equal and in solidarity," read the banner behind which at least 30,000 people also marched in the western city of Nantes.
In Pau in the southwest, a further 30,000 to 40,000 people staged a silent march with school pupils leading the way holding a banner emblazoned with the words: "We are all Charlie".
"It's a great popular movement... it's beautiful and significant, infinitely precious," the city's mayor Francois Bayrou told AFP.
In eastern Besancon, another 20,000 took to the streets, an AFP correspondent said, while in northern Orleans around 22,000 rallied, according to a police source.
In Nice, at least 23,000 demonstrators were counted, police sources said, in a demonstration which snaked for around a kilometre along the famous seafront Promenade des Anglais, ending at the war memorial where a wreath was laid in the presence of representatives of different faiths.
A further 22,000 people turned out in northern Lille and tens of thousands more in several other towns and cities across France.
The rallies come ahead of a march expected to draw about a million people on Sunday in which French President Francois Hollande will be joined by a host of world leaders including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron.
Others due to participate include Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and US Attorney General Eric Holder.
Ahead of that mass rally in Paris, hundreds of troops were on Saturday deployed around the city, which is already on the highest possible alert.
The three-day killing spree by three Islamic militants ended on Friday following a massive police operation triggered by Wednesday's attack on the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo in which 12 people were murdered.
All three gunmen died in final confrontations with police.
AFP
