Paris terror attacks: 40 world leaders join millions to march for solidarity

PARIS (Christian Examiner) -- Over 40 world leaders joined French President François Hollande and over a million citizens to march through Paris Sunday in in honor of the victims of the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attacks and the subsequent hostage situations.

Leaders from Israel, Germany, Palestine and Jordan attended the solidarity march in the streets of Paris. Arab and Muslim representatives also joined to pay tribute to the victims of the Charlie Hebdo massacre, the killing of a police woman in Montrouge, and the hostage taking at a kosher supermarket at the Porte de Vincennes.

A total of 17 people were killed in three days of violence that began on Wednesday. The French Interior Ministry estimated that 1.6 million attended the march in Paris, while 2.5 million marched in other cities. Many held signs that read "Je sues Charlie" ("I am Charlie").

"Paris is today the capital of the world. Our entire country will rise up and show its best side," Hollande said.

2,200 police and soldiers were present at the march, presenting a strong and armed security presence to thwart any would-be troublemakers.

Brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi, 32 and 34, were French citizens but born in Algeria. They had trained with al Qaeda in Yemen and were killed during the police operations in what local commentators have called "France's 9/11".