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France


Huge crowds gather for Paris unity rally - as it happened








Video appears to show supermarket attacker claiming responsibility as up to a million people – including dozens of world leaders – converge on Paris in show of defiance and unity after terrorist attacks that left 17 dead 

Gallery: one million expected in Paris for solidarity march



Updated 













Live coverage from Paris






Shiv Malik, 
Paul Owen and 
Josh Halliday


Sunday 11 January 2015 14.05 EST







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 6.52pm GMT13:52 

Here is our main story this evening on an historic day in France:

It was the day Paris united. And with dozens of world leaders joining the millions of people marching to commemorate and celebrate the victims of last week’s terror attacks it was also the day the world united behind the city.
“Today, Paris is capital of the world. The entire country will rise up,” the French president, François Hollande, told the French people.
It was the first time since the Libération of Paris in August 1944 that so many people – the interior ministry said there were too many to count but most estimates put it at somewhere between 1.5 and 2 million – took to the streets of the city.

You can read the full story here.
My colleague Julian Borger has also written about the video made by Kosher supermarket gunman Amedy Coulibaly.

Updated at 7.05pm GMT

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 6.48pm GMT13:48 

As the darkness deepened at the Place de la Nation the atmosphere was defiant, as thousands remained long after the dignitaries had left, writes Alexandra Topping.  Flares were lit, placards held aloft, as young and old gathered together. Renditions of La Marseillaise rang out again and again, each time concluded with loud rounds of applause. 
Cries of “Liberty” rang out, while a tireless young woman lea unending chants of “Merci Charlie”.  Mina, 57 and Francois, 52 – who did not wish to give their surnames as they said they were simply French among the French – said they were proud of the masses who had taken to the streets.
“It’s important to be part of this voice,” said Francois, “together we have a voice, together we can say that we will not be divided, we are the people. We will not answer hate with hate.”  I’m proud of and happy to be French today,” said his partner. “Today we show our pain together but we don’t have to live like this. We are saying not to violence, and that is liberating.”  Among those who remained at the rally were a group who held aloft a series of illuminated letters. Together, they read: solidarity.



Mina, 57, and Francois, 52, in Paris
Photograph: Alexandra Topping




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 6.41pm GMT13:41 
Summary

As the million-strong crowds begin to thin in Paris, here is a brief summary of an historic day for France:

An estimated 3 million demonstrators – including world leaders, dignitaries and families of those killed – lined the streets of France in an unprecedented show of unity. Crowds of up to 1.5 million marched through Paris, with the same number turning out in towns and cities across France following 72 hours of terror that left 17 dead. French officials described the figure as “unprecedented” and that it was matched only by the numbers who took to Paris streets when the Allies liberated the city from the Nazis in World War II.
“Paris is the capital of the world today,” French premier Francois Hollande said as world leaders linked arms to begin the march in Paris. More than 40 world leaders were in attendance including David Cameron, German chancellor Angela Merkel, Turkish prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.
The four victims of the Kosher store attack are to be buried in Israel, Jewish community sources told the AFP news agency. Yoav Hattab, Philippe Braham, Yohan Cohen and Francois-Michel Saada are to be flown to Israel on Monday remembered in funerals on Tuesday.
A propaganda video showing the terrorist who attacked a Parisian kosher grocery store aligning himself with Islamic State (Isis) was circulated by the extremist group hours before the start of the march. In the seven-minute, 16-second video the supermarket attacker Amedy Coulibaly, who shot dead four hostages during a five-hour siege on Friday before being killed by police, is described as a “soldier of the caliphate” and appears to swear allegiance to Isis chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.


Updated at 6.43pm GMT

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 6.18pm GMT13:18 



— Reuters Pictures (@reuterspictures)
January 11, 2015
A man holds a giant pencil during the French citizens #unitymarch #MarcheRepublicaine Paris http://t.co/aEIZm7euTI pic.twitter.com/mGnsUy3ovZ





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 6.17pm GMT13:17 
Kosher store victims to be buried in Israel

 Four French Jews killed during the attack on a kosher supermarket in Paris are to be buried in Israel on Tuesday, AFP reports. 
Citing Jewish community sources, the agency says the four victims - Yoav Hattab, Philippe Braham, Yohan Cohen and Francois-Michel Saada - will be taken from the forensic institute in Paris on Monday and flown to Israel.
The funerals are to be held at 8am GMT on Tuesday at the Mount of Olives cemetery” in Jerusalem.
You can read short profiles of all the victims here.


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 6.09pm GMT13:09 

People have been using GuardianWitness to send us their pictures from rallies across Europe.
This picture was sent in from Toulon, south France, by Scopolla:




Je suis Charlie, Toulon, South of France.

Je suis Charlie. Toulon, South of France.




Sent via Guardian Witness

 By Scopolla 
 11 January 2015, 15:35 



Tom Craig was in Paris:




National March Against Terrorism and National Unity, Paris

The largest demonstration ever held in the history of Paris took place today, after a week of tension due to several terrorist shootings and many deaths that recently took place in the French Capital. Over 40heads of state and a million marched.




Sent via Guardian Witness

 By Tom Craig 
 11 January 2015, 17:14 



The Guardian’s Clare Margetson was in Trafalgar square, London:




To the point

Trafalgar Square




Sent via Guardian Witness

 By claremargetson 
 11 January 2015, 17:34 



And James Crouchman sent this from the French embassy in Sofia, Bulgaria:




French Embassy, Sofia

Candle wax begins to run, French Embassy, Sofia, Bulgaria.




Sent via Guardian Witness

 By jamescrouchman 
 11 January 2015, 15:02 





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 5.46pm GMT12:46 
Paris march is largest demo in French history, says official

A French official has said the Paris unity rally is the largest demonstration in French history, Associated Press reports.
Calling the rally “unprecedented,” the French interiror ministry says the demonstrators are so numerous they spread beyond the official march route, making them impossible to count.
French media estimate up to 3 million are taking part, more than the numbers who took to Paris streets when the Allies liberated the city from the Nazis in World War II.

Updated at 5.47pm GMT

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 5.37pm GMT12:37 




Tower Bridge is seen lit in the colours of the French national flag in a tribute to the victims of the Paris terror attacks
Photograph: Paul Hackett/Reuters




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 5.32pm GMT12:32 

The London mayor, Boris Johnson, has just tweeted this from Trafalgar square:


— Boris Johnson (@MayorofLondon)
January 11, 2015
Just one example of London's incredible response to events in Paris #unity #JeSuisCharlie pic.twitter.com/1aU4aNloxi





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 5.25pm GMT12:25 

My colleague Kim Willsher, in Paris, says France’s interior ministry has apparently given up counting how many people are taking part in the march. “It’s not possible to estimate”, it says.


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 5.19pm GMT12:19 

France’s interior ministry has said the turnout for the Paris rally was “unprecedented” while French TV said rallies across the nation were unseen since the 1944 Liberation of Paris from Nazi occupation, AFP reports: 

 More than a million people flooded Paris on Sunday in an unprecedented rally against terrorism, led by dozens of world leaders walking arm in arm as cries of “Freedom” and “Charlie” rang out. 
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 the slaughter of 12 people at the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. 



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 5.18pm GMT12:18 

Seeing world leaders arm in arm at the head of the march was a rare sight. This is who was who. 



World leaders march in Paris on Sunday.
Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty






Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy
British prime minister David Cameron
Danish prime minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt
Polish prime minister Ewa Kopacz
European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini
 Thorbjorn Jagland, secretary-general of the Council of Europe 
Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo
European commission president Jean-Claude Juncker
Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu
Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita
 French president Francois Hollande 
German chancellor Angela Merkel
President of the European council Donald Tusk
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas
Queen Rania of Jordan



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 5.05pm GMT12:05 

As the march continued at a slow but steady pace Christine Kratz, 65, grabbed a pencil in between her teeth, writes Alexandra Topping. 
“That’s scary, isn’t it?”, she joked. “You know we have been crying for three days and now we are here to laugh in solidarity.” 
She added that the last time she had seen so many people on the streets of Paris was the end of the Second World War. “I have been to demonstrations all my life and I have never seen anything like this,” she said. 

“They wanted to kill freedom of expression, they wanted to assassinate intelligence, and kill humour. But they haven’t succeeded. But still- they are dead. And if we laugh today, it is with a heavy heart.” 

Asked if she believed that the unity shown today would continue, she said she was “hopeful” that some of the spirit would remain.

 “Of course it won’t stay like this but I hope it won’t result in too much hate, because if we feel nothing but hate- they have won and we can’t let that happen. It’s up to each and every one of us to say when we hear hate speech: stop. And say no to intolerance.” 




Christine Kratz at the unity march in Paris
Photograph: Alexandra Topping



Updated at 5.07pm GMT

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 4.59pm GMT11:59 

A nice play on words paying tribute to Charlie Hebdo and Ahmed Merabet, the policeman killed near the magazine’s office.


— Agence France-Presse (@afpfr)
January 11, 2015
Paris : un joli jeu de mots en hommage à #CharlieHebdo et Ahmed Merabet, le policier assassiné #AFP pic.twitter.com/abKzI08Bok





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 4.53pm GMT11:53 

In London, large crowds of demonstrators have taken to Trafalgar Square in a show of unity with the French.



People hold placards and wave flags in Trafalgar Square, London, in show of unity with France.
Photograph: Tim Ireland/AP


The picture above shows the crowds this afternoon. As dusk fell, the French tricolor was beamed on to the facade of the National Gallery.


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 4.40pm GMT11:40 
Up to 2.5 million people march across France

My colleague Mark Tran has an update on the number of people marching across France today.
An estimated 2.5 million people have turned out across the country, including up to 1.5 million in Paris and 1 million outside the capital.
French officials say not since 1998 when France won the World Cup has Paris seen such enormous crowds. About 1.5m people took to the streets to celebrate on that occasion.
Rallies have been taking place in other cities - Lyon, Marseille and Perpignan among others. There have also been gatherings in London, Madrid, Vienna and elsewhere.



Demonstrators participate in a mass unity rally in Paris, France.
Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images



Updated at 4.47pm GMT

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 4.34pm GMT11:34 
David Cameron: we must tackle 'poisonous death cult'

Following his participation in the march, David Cameron has just appeared on BBC News.
He said he was “very concerned about the threats that face our country”. Tackling this “poisonous death cult” is “something for all of us to do”, he added, whether in schools, universities or prisons.
He said “the immense nature of the crowd” has made a deep impression on him and he said the banner, “I am Charlie, I am a cop, I am a Jew” was the slogan which he found most memorable.


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 4.25pm GMT11:25 

My colleague, Alexandra Topping, files this from the march:

The noise along the route of the unity march rose and fell in waves, with songs and chants sporadically punctuating the solemnity of the atmosphere. 
Like a football crowd spilling out of a stadium the rhythmic chant of “Charlie, Charlie, Charlie”, accompanied with the mass clapping of hands was the most often heard. It could be heard starting kilometres away, growing in strength until each and every person was engulfed with the noise. 
Many carried banners with the phrase, Je Suis Charlie, others stating solidarity with the victims and their families, others we the word “nous sommes la republique”- we are the republic. One child had several pages of a4 paper taped to his back, on it it read “I am Charlie, I am the police, and no Cherif will take away my liberty.”
Cecile Lebault, a 35-year-old sales rep carried a banner with the phrases: “Not even scared”, “support for the families”, “against hate” and “all together”. 
“We are here today in solidarity against hate, violence and all forms of terrorism, we are hee to show that we will not give way to fear and terror. And we are here to say don’t touch my freedom of expression. Vive la republique, Vive la France.” 
Her friend Natalie Durant, a 37-year-old documentary maker said that the attack on Charlie Hebdo had gone to the heart of what it meant to be French. “We have grown up with Charlie Hebdo, for us it typifies freedom of expressions and we want to say: Charlie is not dead.” 




Cecile Lebault and her friend Natalie Durant
Photograph: Alexandra Topping




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 4.17pm GMT11:17 
Up to 1.5 million people join Paris march, say organisers



— Agence France-Presse (@AFP)
January 11, 2015
#BREAKING: Up to 1.5 million at Paris march against terrorism: organisers



More than 600,000 people are thought to have joined rallies in French towns.


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 4.06pm GMT11:06 

Alexandra Topping has spoken to those in the crowd. The first is a 30-year-old social worker Jean-Nicolas. Brandishing the Kalashnikov made of pens that he had created he said: “I haven’t any words today. I just have pens.”



Jean-Nicolas, a 30-year-old social worker at Paris march
Photograph: Alexandra Topping


Idriss Nouar, a 41-year-old web developer of Algerian heritage, said he believed people had taken to the streets in such huge numbers because they were looking for some form of “closure”.



Idriss Nouar, a 41-year-old web developer, at Paris march
Photograph: Alexandra Topping/Alexandra Topping


“For three days we have been glued to our television screens, we cried, we lit candles- we didn’t know what to do or how to explain how we felt. Today, here, with the chants, the clapping, the slow walking, it’s a way of expressing our distress and it’s some kind of closure.”He said he was anxious for his father who looks “more obviously Algerian”. “Being here, seeing this kind of unity is making me feel better,” he said. “But I have been scared that crazy people will just start attacking people who look like that. What we’ve seen in the last few days is that it only takes a very few people to cause a lot of harm.”

Updated at 4.12pm GMT

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 4.00pm GMT11:00 

Anne Penketh says that now heads of state and government leaders have left the march, it’s finally moving.


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 3.47pm GMT10:47 

The US ambassador to the UN Samantha Power has tweeted her comments on the Paris march:


— Samantha Power (@AmbassadorPower)
January 11, 2015
Extremely powerful sights from Paris today as hundreds of thousands gather in unity and defiance following terror attacks.





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 3.43pm GMT10:43 




Crowds gather at the Place de la Republique, as world leaders converge on Paris.
Photograph: AP/AFP Getty Images




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 3.39pm GMT10:39 

There are solidarity marches and gestures taking place across the world right now. Here are a selection of tweets from a few of those places.


— Marc Guillet (@Turkeyreport)
January 11, 2015
#JeSuisCharlie march now in front of French Consulate in #Istanbul 'Nous sommes tous Charlie' pic.twitter.com/wrKhd9ihiv





— Gérard Julien (@ggjulien)
January 11, 2015
A Madrid aussi de nombreux Charlie pic.twitter.com/4putkODmSj





— art in berlin (@artinberlin)
January 11, 2015
Berlin - Französische Botschaft - JE SUIS CHARLIE pic.twitter.com/QgtoRhtaKU





— TheScore.ie (@thescore_ie)
January 11, 2015
The Lazio players are wearing #JeSuisCharlie on their jerseys in the Rome derby http://t.co/7aTHiJ9pp1 pic.twitter.com/nlYStaQPbR





— Rosie Scammell (@rosiescammell)
January 11, 2015
Flags raised in Rome: https://t.co/JuB2OUj1Xy





— Telegraph Pictures (@TelegraphPics)
January 11, 2015
Gallery: #CharlieHedbo gathering in Trafalgar Square, London #JeSuisCharlie #UnityMarch (EPA) http://t.co/PlM2Oz27aY pic.twitter.com/CR9SkD4gVM





— Laura Dean (@lauracdean)
January 11, 2015
Members of #egypt journo syndicate raise pens @Charlie Hebdo gathering in cairo. Signs condemn terrorism/attacks pic.twitter.com/bqJfQK3Ovp




Updated at 4.08pm GMT

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 3.26pm GMT10:26 

Here is a Vine video by Emre Demir showing the scale of the crowds 





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 3.23pm GMT10:23 




Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande earlier.
Photograph: Dominique Faget/AFP/Getty Images




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 3.16pm GMT10:16 

Our reporters on the ground Kim Willsher, Anne Penketh and Alexandra Topping have filed this dispatch of the march:

Protocol went out of the window as the 60 world leaders congregated in Paris to show their support and solidarity with France after a week of terrorist bloodshed that left 17 dead.
In what was an unprecedented historic occasion, nobody was standing on ceremony. Presidents, prime ministers, statesmen and women travelled by bus to join a silent march to honour the victims and heroes of the three attacks, and to show that they would not be bowed.
Leaders of all the religions followed behind a banner “We are Charlie”.
The crowd around them was estimated at more than 1 million people, all under the watchful eye of some 2,200 heavily armed police and gendarmes, including crack snipers positioned on the surrounding roofs, and helicopters.
As they marched, the crowds that lined the route broke into spontaneous cheers and applause.
In emotional scenes, Hollande hugged the family and friends of those who died, moving from Charlie Hebdo staff and relatives of the police officers who were gunned down to the families of victims of the Kosher supermarket at Vincennes.
Many of the crowd wore Je suis Charlie badges, some carried flags and placards. A young boy held up a banner reading: “Later I will be a journalist. I’m not afraid!”



— Matthew Champion (@matthewchampion)
January 11, 2015
Francois Hollande embraces Charlie Hebdo writer Patrick Pelloux during the Paris rally (Philippe Wojazer, Reuters) pic.twitter.com/K7E7LBPLEb




Updated at 4.03pm GMT

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 2.54pm GMT09:54 



— Martyn McLaughlin (@MartynMcL)
January 11, 2015
In Paris, a child's placard: "When I grow up, I'll be a journalist. I'm not afraid." #CharlieHebdo (H/T @ChrisMoos_) pic.twitter.com/2P1hfYHC4H





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 2.50pm GMT09:50 

Anne Penketh who is with the families of the victims at the head of the march tweets this: 


— anne penketh (@annepenketh)
January 11, 2015
v moving to see victims' relatives, some in tears, at head of march #CharlieHebdo



Sending a dispatch she continues: 

These are amazing and moving scenes at Place Voltaire. The survivors and relatives of the victims headed up the march, wearing white headbands, some in tears or breaking down. 
The world leaders, linking arms, followed a respectful distance behind. 
Spontaneous applause from people in buildings along the route broke out as they began marching. Netanyahu waving to people - this neighbourhood has a sizeable Jewish population. 
After a moment’s silent reflection at Place Voltaire, Hollande is due to continue the march to Nation, about a 15 minute walk away, on his own after greeting the victims’ families and friends.

Channel Four journalist Cordelia Lynch Tweets a picture of the scene:


— Cordelia Lynch (@CordeliaLynchC4)
January 11, 2015
Families of the victims of #ParisAttacks link arms at the unity rally. #c4news pic.twitter.com/xTsSKIlKby




Updated at 3.01pm GMT

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 2.49pm GMT09:49 




French President Francois Hollande is surrounded by head of states as they attend the solidarity march (Rassemblement Republicain) in the streets of Paris January 11, 2015.
Photograph: Philippe Wojazer/REUTERS




— Kim Willsher (@kimwillsher1)
January 11, 2015
#CharlieHebdo Amazing to see world leaders jostling in a line walking down a relatively unknown boulevard in Paris.




Updated at 2.52pm GMT

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 2.48pm GMT09:48 




Francois Hollande at the march.
Photograph: Sky News




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 2.44pm GMT09:44 




People watch from their roof-top apartment as some thousands of people gather at Republique square in Paris, France, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2015. 
Photograph: Peter Dejong/AP




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 2.43pm GMT09:43 




World leaders at the head of the march.
Photograph: Sky News




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 2.39pm GMT09:39 

World leaders have also set off on the march. Cameras show Hollande walking, arms linked, with Germany’s Merkel, with Israel’s Netanyahu standing a few people away. 


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 2.36pm GMT09:36 

Israel’s prime minister says the bodies of the French Jews killed in the hostage standoff in the Paris grocery store on Friday will be buried in Israel. 
In a statement issued from Paris, Benjamin Netanyahu has he had “responded to the request of the families of those killed in the murderous terror attack” and directed “all the relevant government bodies” to assist in bringing the bodies to Israel. He said a funeral is expected on Tuesday.

Updated at 2.39pm GMT

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 2.33pm GMT09:33 

According to AFP the US is saying there is no credible information that al Qaeda had planned Wednesday’s attack.


— Agence France-Presse (@AFP)
January 11, 2015
#BREAKING: 'No credible information' Al-Qaeda behind French attacks: US





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 2.31pm GMT09:31 




Thousands of people gather at Republique square in Paris, France, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2015. 
Photograph: Peter Dejong/AP



Updated at 2.34pm GMT

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 2.30pm GMT09:30 
March begins

The march has begun with rapturous applause.

Updated at 2.34pm GMT

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 2.26pm GMT09:26 

Alexandra Topping, who is on the ground in Paris, also reports that there have been extraordinary scenes in Paris in the last few hours as the metro bulges and the streets fill with Parisians determined to show the world they are united in the face of terrorism.

It really feels like the whole of Paris is either at this rally, or making its way at a glacial pace along all the roads that lead to the main route. Many people are carrying the tricolour, others placards carrying exhortations to laugh.


Updated at 2.35pm GMT

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 2.23pm GMT09:23 

A group of students have told the Guardian’s Anne Penketh of their fears that the march would be exploited for political ends because of the presence of so many world leaders.
 “This isn’t a demonstration, it’s a rally to show solidarity and unity,” said medical student Claire Guerini. 
Her friend, Camille Le Bot, a dance student, said: “We’re worried about political manipulation. We’re here to say that what happened was extremely grave and that we’re not afraid.”

Updated at 2.34pm GMT

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 2.22pm GMT09:22 

World leaders are now lined up on the street. Please refresh to view the live video feed above.


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 2.19pm GMT09:19 

The US is to host a summit on 18 February on how to counter “violent extremism around the world”. AFP reports: 

Speaking in Paris after a meeting with European security ministers, the US attorney general, Eric Holder, said the meeting would take place in Washington under the auspices of President Barack Obama.
The gathering will “bring together all of our allies to discuss ways in which we can counteract this violent extremism that exists around the world,” said Holder. “Only if we work together, through sharing of information, by pooling our resources, will we ultimately be able to defeat those who are in a struggle with us about our fundamental values.”
In a statement, the White House said the summit would highlight US and international efforts to prevent the radicalisation and recruitment of followers in the US and other countries by extremist groups.
It will stress efforts by local communities to integrate teachers, health care workers and religious leaders with law enforcement in the fight against violent extremism, the White House said.
“The summit will include representatives from a number of partner nations, focusing on the themes of community engagement, religious leader engagement, and the role of the private sector and tech community,” it added.
The White House said the summit’s agenda and participants would be announced later.



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 2.16pm GMT09:16 

Kim Willsher writes about just how historic an occasion this is:

It is the first time since the Libération of Paris in 1944 that so many people have taken to the streets of Paris, and the first time so many world leaders have congregated in one place in what is essentially a show of solidarity and condolence with France.


On a political and diplomatic level, this is extraordinary: there are around 60 presidents, prime ministers, world leaders, statesmen and women currently travelling by bus from the Elysée palace to the 11th arrondissement of Paris.
To put this into perspective, last year, to mark the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings, a total of 19 world leaders went to Normandy.
On a human level, it is a massive outpouring of national grief, solidarity and defiance. People have turned out en masse not only to show their respect for the 17 victims of the three terrorist attacks last week, but their support for the values of the Republique “liberté, égalité, fraternité”, freedom of speech and freedom of the press.
A huge area of Paris is in lock down with hundreds of thousands, possibly a million people gathered in Place de la Republique and Place de la Nation and along the 3 km march route.
The events of last week have deeply shocked and scarred France and there is a sense of collective comfort in coming together to say “We are not afraid”, even though people are afraid, and a sense of taking part in something historic.


Updated at 2.18pm GMT

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 2.12pm GMT09:12 

This is the Amedy Coulibaly video, which appears to have been partly filmed following the massacre at the Charlie Hebdo offices but before Coulibaly’s raid on the supermarket. 








    Sorry, your browser is unable to play this video. 





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 2.11pm GMT09:11 

Other ‘unity’ gatherings are taking place across the world. The National Gallery in London is expected to have the French Tricolore projected on to its facade. This tweet from a BBC journalist is from Trafalgar square:


— Nick Eardley (@nickeardley)
January 11, 2015
Trafalgar Square in London just now pic.twitter.com/E5qn7DsMk0





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 2.03pm GMT09:03 

The march is just about to begin. It will be lead by the families of the 17 victims.


— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking)
January 11, 2015
Chanting & applause in Paris as huge crowds begin unity march against terror attacks http://t.co/VeXcJu1QK6 pic.twitter.com/gC9Ca8HGR0




Updated at 2.07pm GMT

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 2.01pm GMT09:01 

Reuters are reporting Yemeni sources confirming that the Kouachi brothers did attend camps in the country in 2011. 

Both brothers travelled to Yemen via Oman in 2011 and had weapons training in the deserts of Marib, an al Qaeda stronghold, two senior Yemeni sources said on Sunday. 
“These two brothers arrived in Oman on July 25, 2011, and from Oman they were smuggled into Yemen where they stayed for two weeks,” a senior Yemeni security official, who declined to be named, said. 
“They met (al Qaeda preacher) Anwar al-Awlaki and then they were trained for three days in the deserts of Marib on how to fire a gun. They returned to Oman and they left Oman on Aug. 15, 2011 to go back to France.” 



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 1.55pm GMT08:55 

World leaders are gathering at the bus that will take them to the march. Refresh the page to watch the scene live above. 


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 1.53pm GMT08:53 

TV channels are now showing French president Francois Hollande departing to join the march. 


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 1.47pm GMT08:47 

This picture from the London Evening Standard’s diary editor shows the volume of people making their way to the rallying point at Place de la Republique 


— Joy Lo Dico (@joy_lo_dico)
January 11, 2015
The march towards the march. All ages, classes, ethnicities on the street #JeSuisCharlie pic.twitter.com/KZRpbWHU46



A video from the Press Association’s Joe Churcher also shows just how packed the surrounding streets are:


— Joe Churcher (@JoeChurcher)
January 11, 2015
Surrounding streets now log-jammed some way back. Still the only real sound the occasional burst of applaus... https://t.co/rT4eNrhgx4




Updated at 1.49pm GMT

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 1.36pm GMT08:36 

Mark Tran writes that one of the key questions for the French security services is how the Kouachi brothers slipped under their radar. 


According to the news weekly L’Obs, French security services stopped tracking the Kouachi brothers six months ago. The DGSI (general directorate for internal security) was watching Saïd Kouachi until June 2014. His phone was being tapped and he was under “technical surveillance”. 
He came to French attention after US security officials alerted their French counterparts as to his possible presence in Yemen in 2010. He was also known be part of the the Buttes Chaumont cell in the 19th arrondissement. But in June the authorities stopped their surveillance as there was no indication that he would engage in a terrorist act. 
Chérif Kouachi, the younger brother, was known to French police as he was given a three-year jail sentence as part of an alleged plot to free an Algerian Islamist, Smaïn Aït Ali Belkacem, who was given life imprisonment in 2002 for a bombing at the Musee d’Orsay train station in Paris in October 1995 that left around 30 injured. 
Chérif was under surveillance until November 2013. The authorities decided to stop tracking him in July as he seemed to be distancing him from Islamist circles.



Updated at 2.18pm GMT

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 1.33pm GMT08:33 

David Cameron has tweeted this: 


— David Cameron (@David_Cameron)
January 11, 2015
I've just arrived at the Élysée to meet President Hollande. We'll March together for our values and those murdered at #CharlieHebdo.





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 1.12pm GMT08:12 

A closer analysis of the Amedy Coulibaly video appears to indicate that sections of it may have been filmed following the massacre at the Charlie Hebdo offices but before Coulibaly’s raid on the supermarket. 
In the video, an onscreen question pops up asking about his relationship to the Kouachi brothers who attacked Charlie Hebdo. Coulibaly answers: 

The brothers of our team, they did Charlie Hebdo ... We divided in two, they did Charlie Hebdo, I also went out against the police. We did things a bit together a bit separate so it had more impact. I helped them in their project.
We managed to synchronise things to come out at the same time because we were approaching the end.

His answers are by no means definitive as to timing but the detail and the tense he employs suggests this segment was filmed after the Hebdo attack. 
In addition, in one of the segments he appears to be wearing the same army-style body armour he was wearing when he was killed.

Updated at 1.25pm GMT

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 12.58pm GMT07:58 

Our German correspondent Ben Knight reports on an incident in which the tabloid Hamburger Morgenpost appears to have become the first German paper to suffer reprisals for reprinting Charlie Hebdo’s contentious Muhammad cartoons.
He writes that several stones and an incendiary device were thrown through the window of its archive in the early hours of Sunday morning. The fire was quickly contained and there were no injuries.

On its website, the Hamburger Morgenpost published photos showing bundles of fire-damaged newspapers and files piled up outside the building by the fire brigade. Last Thursday, the Hamburger Morgenpost, reprinted some of Charlie Hebdo’s Muhammad cartoons on its front page, next to the headline “This much freedom must be allowed”.


“We are shocked by the arson attack on our publishing house,” the Hamburger Morgenpost’s editor-in-chief Frank Niggemeier said in a statement. “We’re shaken that something like this could happen in an open-minded and liberal city like Hamburg. Luckily, there was no one in the building at the time of the fire on Saturday night. The police investigations must now clear up to what extent the attack was connected with the Hamburger Morgenpost’s reporting.”
“You can still smell smoke everywhere,” a spokeswoman for the editorial team told the Guardian. “The mood is cautious at the moment. Everyone is concerned about safety.” She confirmed that there had been increased police security since the cartoons had been printed. 
According to a Hamburg police statement, two people near the scene of the fire ran away when they saw police arrive. They escaped on to a train and were arrested at another train station. Police are now determining whether the two men, aged 35 and 39, had anything to do with the attack.




Firefighters stand outside the building of the Hamburger Morgenpost on Sunday morning.
Photograph: Bodo Marks/AP



Updated at 2.48pm GMT

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 12.55pm GMT07:55 

Just an hour before the march, the crowds appear to have grown significantly:


— L'Obs (@LeNouvelObs)
January 11, 2015
EN DIRECT #MarcheRepublicaine Hollande : "Paris est aujourd'hui la capitale du monde" >> http://t.co/iu072Duxgz pic.twitter.com/DGXZTPaHCI





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 12.53pm GMT07:53 

Speaking to a taxi driver in a town just outside of Paris, Alexandra Topping reports his defiant response: “In these horrible days we have to do what we can for each other. I am a Muslim, and I tell you now that these monsters did not act in my name. 
“Please just tell people that these barbarians weren’t Muslims, because when something like this happens, Muslims are the first to suffer. Islam is a faith of peace, not of terror. We are forbidden to hurt anyone, even a fly.”

Updated at 1.19pm GMT

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 12.47pm GMT07:47 

Here is the route of the march, which is expected to begin in just over an hour’s time:




Updated at 1.19pm GMT

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 12.40pm GMT07:40 

Th Guardian’s Anne Penketh reports that among those marching today will be playwright Tom Stoppard. Speaking near the Place de la République, he told the Guardian that he happened to be in Paris.

Updated at 1.19pm GMT

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 12.34pm GMT07:34 
Jogger revealed to be another victim of terror attack

As the criminal investigation moves on apace, a Paris prosecutor said today that the non-fatal shooting of a jogger in a Paris suburb, which occurred on the same day as the Charlie Hebdo massacre, has now been linked to gunman Amedy Coulibaly, who also killed a female police officer and four hostages at a kosher grocery.
AP reports that the prosecutor said ballistics tests on shell cases from the shooting in Fontenay-aux-Roses on Wednesday linked them to the automatic weapon at the kosher store stormed two days later. The prosecutor said the jogger was seriously wounded.

Updated at 1.18pm GMT

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 12.29pm GMT07:29 

The AFP news agency provides this list of leaders attending the Paris rally today: 
EUROPE 
French president François Hollande 
German chancellor Angela Merkel 
British prime minister David Cameron 
Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi 
Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy 
Romanian president Klaus Iohannis 
European commission president Jean-Claude Juncker 
European parliament president Martin Schulz 
EU president Donald Tusk 



François Hollande welcomes Mahmoud Abbas at the Elysée Palace ahead of a mass demonstration in Paris.
Photograph: Thibault Camus/AP


Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg 
Polish prime minister Ewa Kopacz 
Danish prime minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt 
Belgian prime minister Charles Michel 
Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte 
Greek prime minister Antonis Samaras 
Irish prime minister Enda Kenny 
Portuguese prime minister Pedro Passos Coelho 
Czech prime minister Bohuslav Sobotka 
Slovakian prime minister Robert Fico 
Latvian prime minister Laimdota Straujuma 
Bulgarian prime minister Boyko Borisov 
Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán 



François Hollande welcomes Greek prime minister Antonis Samaras at the Elysée Palace in Paris.
Photograph: Thibault Camus/AP


Croatian prime minister Zoran Milanović
Luxembourg prime minister Xavier Bettel 
Maltese prime minister Joseph Muscat 
Slovenian prime minister Miro Cerar 
Swedish prime minister Stefan Löfven
Finnish prime minister Alexander Stubb 
Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko 
Swiss president Simonetta Sommaruga 
Kosovo president Atifete Jahjaga 
Albanian prime minister Edi Rama 
Turkish prime minister Ahmet Davutoğlu 
Norwegian prime minister Erna Solberg 
Georgian prime minister Irakli Garibashvili 
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov 
Austrian foreign minister Sebastian Kurz



Hollande and Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu pose for photographs in Paris.
Photograph: Thibault Camus/AP


NORTH AMERICA 
US attorney general Eric Holder 
Canadian public safety minister Steven Blaney 
MIDDLE EAST 
Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu and foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman 
Jordanian King Abdullah II and Queen Rania 
Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas 
United Arab Emirates foreign minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan 
Qatari Sheikh Mohammed Ben Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani 
Bahrain foreign minister Sheikh Khaled bin Ahmed Al Khalifa and prince Abdullah Bin Hamad al-Khalifa 
AFRICA 
Malian president Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta 
Gabonese president Ali Bongo 
Niger president Mahamadou Issoufou 
Benin president Thomas Boni Yayi 
Tunisian prime minister Mehdi Jomaa 
Algerian foreign minister Ramtane Lamamra 

Updated at 1.12pm GMT

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 12.28pm GMT07:28 

The Guardian’s Mark Tran writes that the controversial French comedian Dieudonné M’bala M’bala, who was banned from entering Britain last year after several of his shows were cancelled in France, has announced on Twitter that he is at today’s march.


— Dieudonné Officiel (@MbalaDieudo)
January 11, 2015
présent à la marche aux côtés des défenseurs de la libertéd'expression.Pensées pour tous ceux qui n'ont jamais eu peur de mourir de rire.



Dieudonné, who is know for the “quenelle” – an allegedly antisemitic gesture, has convictions for inciting racial hatred through his in antisemitic jokes and comments. He insists his gesture is simply anti-establishment, but he has not distanced himself from groups and individuals who have posted photographs of themselves doing the quenelle outside synagogues, Holocaust memorials, Jewish schools and even at the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz.

Updated at 12.42pm GMT

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 12.26pm GMT07:26 

Commenting on the Coulibaly video, Charlie Winter from the counter-extremism thinktank the Quilliam Foundation, says Coulibaly’s pledge to the Isis chief, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, is significant, but it is unclear as to what his status with the group was before the attack.
“The video refers to Coulibaly as a ‘soldier of the caliphate’, but it is eminently unclear as to whether he was acting alone or with direction. 
“Importantly, it is evident from the video that it was not processed by official IS [Isis] propagandists – it has none of the usual hallmarks,” he said, which included production logo, different fonts, or the usual religious music that has accompanied almost every Isis video to date.
“This raises questions as to whether he had anything that could resemble a direct connection to the ‘caliphate’,” he said.

Updated at 12.41pm GMT

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 12.20pm GMT07:20 

Hours before the republican march in support of those killed by Islamic fundamentalists in Paris, the crowds began gathering at two of the city’s most symbolic sites: Place de la République and Place de la Nation, write Kim Willsher, Anne Penketh and Alexandra Topping in Paris.

Many brought flags and placards, others wore black T-shirts and badges declaring “Je suis Charlie” in support of the 12 people who were killed at the offices of Charlie Hebdo magazine on Wednesday morning.
“I’m feeling very emotional and I felt I had to be here today,” said Sophie, a student who set down a small bouquet of flowers. 
Around 1 million people are expected to gather in the French capital for what is set to be the biggest demonstration of public unity so far since the attacks earlier this week that left 17 people and three gunmen dead.
Earlier, in an emotional ceremony, hundreds gathered to pay tribute to Ahmed Merabet, the police officer gunned down in the Charlie Hebdo attack. The hashtag #JesuisAhmed has joined #JesuisCharlie for those wishing to show their solidarity with all the victims.
Pierre-Yves Martin, mayor of Livry Gargan in the north east of Paris, paid homage to a “calm and talented” man. The Muslim officer was killed at close range by the fleeing gunmen.
“Ahmed Merabet, your life was stolen and no one can give it back, and so it was not taken in vain we are here, united against barbarism and to uphold the values of the Republic,” Martin said.
The mayor asked those gathered to hold hands for a minute’s silence. Flowers were laid in front of a portrait of the assassinated man and the crowd sang La Marseillaise.
In central Paris around 2,200 armed police and gendarmes are being deployed along the 3km boulevard linking the two symbolic city places.




A sign which reads, “Thank you Ahmed” referring to the police officer Ahmed Merabet shot outside the office of Charlie Hebdo. It also lists the names of the journalists and others killed on January 7, last week which left 17 dead.
Photograph: JOEL SAGET/AFP/Getty Images



Updated at 12.42pm GMT

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 12.05pm GMT07:05 

Kim Willsher in Paris has more on French interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve’s meeting with his European counterparts. Cazeneuve said they had agreed to exchange information about Islamic extremist networks present on the internet and intelligence on terrorist suspects.
“We are all here today because the terrorist phenomenon concerns us all. It makes no distinction between countries or continents. We are resolute and determined to fight terrorism,” Cazeneuve said. 
Three other moves were announced: reinforcement of controls at European external frontiers, a modification of the Schengen rules to tighten checks within Europe “while respecting the rules of free movement and privacy”, and the exchange of information on air passengers between EU members.
They will also try to establish greater links and exchange of information with big players on the internet to identify and stop “terrorist propaganda”, which is radicalising the young.

Updated at 12.32pm GMT

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 12.03pm GMT07:03 

People are already starting to gather in the hours before the march.


— anne penketh (@annepenketh)
January 11, 2015
Already big crowds at Place de la Republique 2 hours before march pic.twitter.com/j8yUkJxyGd





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 11.57am GMT06:57 




Another still from the video appearing to show Amedy Coulibaly.
Photograph: public domain




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 11.55am GMT06:55 

A video showing the terrorist who attacked a Parisian kosher grocery store aligning himself with Isis has been circulated by propagandists working for Isis hours before the start of a march for unity involving scores of world leaders, write Shiv Malik and Mark Tran.
In the 7m 16s video, the supermarket attacker, Amedy Coulibaly – who shot dead four people during the five-hour hostage ordeal – is described as a “soldier of the caliphate” and appears to swear allegiance to Isis chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Dressed at points in a military camouflage flak jacket or a white robe, or shown beside an assault rile or exercising, Coulibaly answers a series of onscreen questions in fluent French and stumbling Arabic.
Coulibaly says that he and the Kouachi brothers had decided to synchronise their attacks.

We did some things together, some things separately, that way we would have more of an impact ... we arranged it to synchronise [our movements] so we would go out at the same time, which was not a problem.

Asked, in a question printed onscreen, as to why he decided to carry out the attacks he responds: 

It’s perfectly legitimate, amply deserved ... You and your coalition carry out bombings regularly over there, you kill civilians, you kill fighters – and why, because we apply sharia? Is it you decides what goes on on this earth – non. We won’t allow it, we are going to fight.

Coulibaly took over the kosher grocery store, demanding freedom for his fellow conspirators, Chérif and Saïd Kouachi, who carried out the massacre at newspapermagazine Charlie Hebdo.
Coulibaly is also responsible for shooting dead a policewoman to death. The video has been edited to include snippets of news reports on the attack on the kosher supermarket in the background.
Asked onscreen what his advice to Muslims in France was, he puts forward a number of rhetorical questions including: “What are you doing when the prophet is insulted repeatedly, what are you doing when they massacre entire populations?”

Updated at 12.31pm GMT

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 11.51am GMT06:51 

France is in mourning for the 17 victims of the attacks, Cazeneuve says. Democracy is under attack. 
We should pay homage to the police forces who paid a dear price in the past few days for their work. 


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 11.50am GMT06:50 

France’s interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, is speaking now in Paris, flanked by some of his European counterparts.
He thanks them for their solidarity and thanks the European community.


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 11.42am GMT06:42 

Refresh the page to watch a live stream from Paris above. 


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 11.39am GMT06:39 

French president François Hollande welcomed world leaders on Sunday at the Elysée palace ahead of an unprecedented demonstration to stand firm against terrorism, writes Anne Penketh.

Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu is due to meet Hollande on Sunday evening and David Cameron, the British PM, was also to take part in the march on Sunday afternoon, along with German chancellor Angela Merkel and King Abdullah of Jordan.
Hollande received French Jewish leaders before seeing numerous heads of state and government. He was pictured strolling in the palace gardens with the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas.

The Jewish community has been traumatised by Friday’s hostage-taking in a kosher supermarket at the Porte de Vincennes in eastern Paris, which left four French Jews dead, Anne writes. 

Speaking to reporters before meeting Hollande and prime minister Manuel Valls, the president of the Jewish umbrella group, the CRIF, said: “This is a war.”
Roger Cukierman condemned those who were expressing support for the two jihadis killed in a shootout by police on Friday, at the same time as a separate police assault ended the hostage-taking at the Porte de Vincennes, resulting in the death of the third jihadi.
“It is intolerable that there is a hashtag on social media saying #IamKouachi and that this has been retweeted 18,000 times,” the CRIF president said. The hashtag refers to the Kouachi brothers, Chérif and Saïd, who carried out the Charlie Hebdo attack. 


Updated at 11.57am GMT

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 11.16am GMT06:16 
Video appears to show supermarket attacker claiming responsibility




A still from the video appearing to show Amedy Coulibaly.
Photograph: public domain


A video appearing to show kosher supermarket attacker Amedy Coulibaly has just been released. We are working to verify the details, but it appears that in the 7m 16s video Coulibaly confirms that he and the Kouachi brothers decided to synchronise their attacks. Also Coulibaly says he gave allegiance to Islamic State chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. We will have more shortly.



Another still from the video. 
Photograph: public domain



Updated at 11.39am GMT

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 10.44am GMT05:44 

Israel’s prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, will tell French and European Jews during a visit to attend the mass demonstration in Paris today that they will be welcomed with “open arms” if they wish to emigrate to Israel, Peter Beaumont writes from Jerusalem. 



Israel’s prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu.
Photograph: Baz Ratner/Reuters


Netanyahu said: 

I am going to Paris in order to participate in the rally, along with world leaders, for a renewed struggle against the Islamic terrorism that is threatening all of humanity, which I have been calling for for years. 
This evening I will attend a special rally, along with French president François Hollande, with the Jewish community in France. I will say there that any Jew who wants to immigrate to Israel will be received here with open arms.

Israel’s foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, and far-right economy minister, Nafatali Bennett, have also said that they will fly to Paris for the rally, which will also be attended by the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, and 30 other world leaders.
Abbas strongly condemned the attacks, phoning Hollande to tell him: “This terrorism has no religion,” and expressing his opposition to any “terror attack” that hurts innocent citizens regardless of their race or religion. “Human life is sacred and God has created us all,” he added.
Commentary in the main Israeli newspapers was largely harshly critical of Europe – and European policies on militant jihadis.Writing in Maariv Alon, Ben David predicted: 

Today, European leaders will gather together with tens of thousands of people in Paris, will make more empty declarations, and maybe even sing Kumbaya— and then go back to their normal routine. Meanwhile, Europe continues to slumber as it encounters jihad. The terrorists, who selected a patently Jewish target after the attack on the newspaper, also made it easy for the French to tell themselves Europe’s favourite narrative: that every act of Islamic terror stems from the Israeli-Arab conflict.


Updated at 11.20am GMT

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 10.43am GMT05:43 

Our Italian correspondent Rosie Scammell sends us this dispatch: 

In Italy, crowds will gather outside the French embassy in Rome this afternoon, while a rally is also planned in front of the French consulate in Milan. Security has been upped in the Italian capital ahead of the gathering, with an estimated 1,200 police officers out on the streets, particularly around the Olympic stadium, which will host the football derby between Serie A rivals Roma and Lazio this afternoon.

The Italian prime minster, Matteo Renzi, will be in Paris and tweeted this earlier this morning: “Marching towards Paris, with Paris, for Paris. I’m taking with me the hopes of a lot of Italian citizens, European citizens. #JeSuisCharlie”


— Matteo Renzi (@matteorenzi)
January 11, 2015
In marcia verso Parigi, con Parigi, per Parigi. Porto con me le speranze di tanti cittadini italiani, cittadini europei #JeSuisCharlie




Updated at 11.17am GMT

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 10.37am GMT05:37 

The Moroccan foreign ministry has said it will send a delegation to the march, which starts at 15.00. However, it warns, if there are cartoons of the prophet on display, it will not participate. 

Updated at 11.21am GMT

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 9.58am GMT04:58 
Press roundup

Today’s newspapers are full of reports and analysis of the awful events in Paris of the last few days, writes Paul Owen. 
In the Observer, Emma Graham-Harrison profiles Hayat Boumeddiene, the 26-year-old partner of gunman Amedy Coulibaly and now the most hunted and feared person in France. Officials believe she may now be in Syria. 



Terror suspect Hayat Boumeddiene.
Photograph: Getty Images



Boumeddiene is now the only known survivor from the group of four who planned the crimes that killed 17 people. French security forces are desperately searching for Boumeddiene, who they fear could unleash more carnage on the shattered country.

Many of the papers printed a photograph purportedly showing her in a forest, wearing full niqab, apparently training with a crossbow.
Elsewhere in the Observer, Elise Vincent asks how France can recover from this week of carnage. 

The question is: what will happen once emotions have calmed? Will the drive behind ‘national unity’ survive once the terror has passed? Several mosques were damaged last week, in different cities in France, from gun shots or homemade bombs. This is not the first time. But these attacks are usually not so numerous, nor do they normally happen at the same time. Routinely in the polls before the attacks, more than half of French people did not hide their fear of Muslims. Today, many Muslims are understandably worried about being further stigmatised.

In the Sunday Telegraph, author Michael Burleigh analyses the mindset of Islamist terrorists. 

Islamist terrorists believe they are a pure elite, destined to survive the cataclysmic conflict of civilisations they desire to bring about. That is why Isil [Isis]’s magazine is called ‘Dabiq’ or Ark. Ideally, as the Egyptian president has courageously commented, they would like to witness an all-out war between 1.6 billion Muslims and the other six billion inhabitants of our planet, but for the time being they’ll just be the vanguard of it.

Patrick Cockburn in the Independent on Sunday urges readers not to blame failings by the security services for the attacks.

The failure that has put all the world in danger is at the level of politics rather than security. It was political leaders who got rid of Saddam Hussein in Iraq, Muammar Gaddafi in Libya and have tried to displace Bashar al-Assad in Syria without thinking through the consequences. One can argue about whether or not this was a good thing to do, but the result of these actions has been to open the gates to al-Qaeda, Isis and their clones. From these savage conflicts sparks are bound to fly and start fires in Europe. 




Posters are hung near to Place de la République in Paris this morning.
Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images


In the Mail on Sunday, Flemming Rose of the Jyllands-Posten in Holland, who was put on a jihadi hit-list after publishing cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad in 2005, writes:

Following the French tragedy, I have been asked again and again my reaction. And the harsh truth is that mass murder in Paris has exposed hypocrisy, even as all those good people declare ‘Je Suis Charlie’. I find it strange that people who welcome diversity when it comes to culture, religion and ethnicity fail to welcome the same diversity when it comes to expressing ourselves.

In the Sunday Times, Zarqa Nawaz, author of Laughing All the Way to the Mosque, says the Charlie Hebdo killers “badly miscalculated the feelings of their community”.

Muslims demonstrated in anger against Danish cartoons in 2005 depicting the prophet. But that was 10 years ago. In today’s social media age, 10 years is a millennium. Such cartoons no longer outrage most Muslims … There are not going to be any protests against the cartoons and every mainstream Muslim group and scholar in the world has condemned the murders. 




Candles are placed to form the words ‘Je Suis Charlie’ (I am Charlie) at the Place de la République, on 11 January in Paris, prior to the start of a huge march which will end at the Place de la Nation.
Photograph: Joel Saget/AFP/Getty Images


In the New York Times, Ross Douthat looks at “the specific issue at the heart of the Hebdo nightmare: the question of whether European nation-states can successfully integrate Muslim immigrants, and what will happen if they don’t”.

If there’s a path to greater Muslim assimilation and inclusion, it’s more likely to be pioneered in France. If Islamic radicalism is going to gain ground or mutate into something more pervasive and dangerous, it’s also more likely to happen in France’s sphere of influence than elsewhere. And if Europe’s much-feared far right is going to complete its journey from the fringe to the mainstream, it will probably happen first in Paris.

In France, Libération gives full details of everything you need to know if you are attending the Paris march. Two routes are planned, transport will be free all day and stringent security is expected, the paper reports. 
The Journal du Dimanche has asked several personalities why they are marching, among them Nobel prize-winning author Patrick Modiano: ‘I am marching so that the victims who have become heroes ... forever remain the symbol of that France, bruised but united, courageous, free, that we love and of which we are proud to belong. We are all Charlie.’
And Le Monde looks at the lack of commitment to freedom of the press by some of the leaders who will attend today, including Turkey’s Ahmet Davutoğlu, Russia’s Sergei Lavrov, and the king and queen of Jordan, and others. 

Their countries are poorly placed on the world ranking of the 2014 press freedom carried out by Reporters Without Borders (RSF): of 180 countries, Turkey is 154th, Russia 148th, Jordan 141 e,  Gabon 98th and Israel 96th.


Updated at 11.33am GMT

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 9.58am GMT04:58 

Our correspondent Alexandra Topping is in France and is tweeting from outside Livry Gargan’s town hall, a town just outside of Paris, where people have gathered to pay tribute to Ahmed Merabet, one of two police officers to have been killed during Wednesday’s shootings.


— Alexandra Topping (@LexyTopping)
January 11, 2015
Crowds have gathered outside the town hall of Livry Gargan, to pay tribute to Ahmed Merabet #jesuischarlie pic.twitter.com/HGl0YIcnfx





— Alexandra Topping (@LexyTopping)
January 11, 2015
Hundreds here to pay tribute to Ahmed Merabet, one of the policemen killed in the #CharlieHebdo attack. #JeSuisAhmed pic.twitter.com/kHDA0gxKZn





— Alexandra Topping (@LexyTopping)
January 11, 2015
Flowers bearing the French flags are laid in front of a picture of Ahmed Merabet. #JeSuisAhmed pic.twitter.com/XeZhlKTnXA




Updated at 10.15am GMT

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 9.30am GMT04:30 

We have an update on the continuing criminal investigation into the Hebdo massacre. Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre, spokesperson for Paris’ prosecutor has said that five people detained in connection with the three days of bloodshed have been released from custody.
The interior ministry has released further information on the whereabouts of the alleged fourth member of the cell, Hayat Boumeddiene. The partner of the supermarket gunman Amedy Coulibaly, is now understood to have flown to Istanbul on 2 January and subsequently made her way to Syria arriving there on the 8th.

Updated at 10.02am GMT

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 9.14am GMT04:14 




French residents, their family and Japanese hold “Je suis Charlie, or I am Charlie” signs as they attend a special memorial gathering at the French Institute in Tokyo Sunday.
Photograph: Shizuo Kambayashi/AP




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 9.10am GMT04:10 

Around 50 heads of state and government are expected to gather with Francois Hollande at the Elysee Palace before embarking on what is being billed as an unprecedented show of international solidarity through the capital at 3pm (2pm GMT). 
Alongside David Cameron and Angela Merkel will be Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy, Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi, Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko. Russia will be represented by its foreign minister Sergei Lavrov and the US will be represented by attorney general Eric Holder, who is in the city along with other security ministers for talks about the threat posed by Islamist extremism. 
Also attending are Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu - who has directly encouraged French and other European Jews to flee the threat of terror and move to Israel. 
Hollande is currently understood to be meeting with leaders of the Jewish community. 

Updated at 10.21am GMT

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 9.01am GMT04:01 

In among the tragedy and awful loss of life, there have been several reported incidents of heroism. The details of two of these stories have emerged over the weekend following Friday’s simultaneous standoff at the print works building in Dammartin-en-Goële and the kosher supermarket in Porte de Vincennes.



Lilian Lepere texted information to the police while hidden under a sink. From web
Photograph: Web


Caught in the premises of the printworks, 27-year-old graphic designer Lilian Lepere risked his life to text information to police as he hid inside a cardboard box under a sink just yards from the highly armed Kouachi brothers.
Meanwhile at the Hyper Cacher grocery store, 24-year-old Muslim employee Lassana Bathily herded shoppers, including one with a baby, into a cold storage facility in the store’s basement to keep them safe from Amedy Coulibaly. Speaking to French TV he said: 



Lassana Bathily, saved several people by hiding them in a walk-in freezer when a gunman laid siege to his workplace.



When they came running down I opened the door of the fridge... Several came in with me. I turned off the light and the fridge. When I turned off the cold, I put them in. I closed the door. I told them to stay calm and I said ‘you stay quiet there, I’m going back out’.


Updated at 9.42am GMT

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 8.45am GMT03:45 
Summary

Welcome to this our fifth day of live coverage of the tragic and horrifying events in Paris, which began on Wednesday with a deadly and rapidly executed armed attack on the offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, which left 12 dead including a police officer.
The attack was carried out by two brothers, Chérif and Saïd Kouachi. Well-known to French security services, the brothers told bystanders they had been sent by al-Qaida in Yemen and were avenging insults made about the Prophet Mohammed by the magazine’s cartoonists. The massacre sparked a two-day huge manhunt involving tens of thousands of police officers, which finally came to an end late Friday afternoon when police stormed a printworks in Dammartin-en-Goële in the suburbs of Paris.
An accomplice of the brothers, Amedy Coulibaly, had at the same taken and subsequently killed several hostages at a kosher supermarket in the east of Paris. He was also killed after police mounted a raid on the premises which closed off the inner ring road of the city.
A fourth alleged accomplice identified by state officials as a 26-year old-female, Hayat Boumeddiene, is still at large. 
A full timeline of events until the ending of the siege can be found here.
Today French president Francois Hollande, various world leaders including the UK’s David Cameron and Germany’s Angela Merkel, and a million French citizens will march in a demonstration of solidarity through the streets of Paris. 
France’s prime minister, Manuel Valls, invited people to “come in numbers” and said today’s demonstration would be “a cry for freedom” and a reassertion of “the values of 1789”.

It will be an unusual demonstration that will no doubt go down in history. It will show the strength and dignity of the French people, who will shout their love for liberty and tolerance.

We will have live coverage of events in Paris here throughout the day.  

Updated at 9.10am GMT

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Cherif Kouachi during 2008 terror trial: 'I've been set up' - video

File footage of one of the Paris gunmen, Cherif Kouachi, arriving at court in 2008 on charges of helping to funnel fighters to Iraq's insurgency



Published: 13 Jan 2015




Cherif Kouachi during 2008 terror trial: 'I've been set up' - video













Analysis Charlie Hebdo attackers: born, raised and radicalised in Paris

The radicalisation of the Kouachi brothers began in a picturesque park in the capital while Amédy Coulibaly took the first steps towards terrorism in prison, but what the three had in common was growing up on the margins of French society



Published: 12 Jan 2015




Charlie Hebdo attackers: born, raised and radicalised in Paris













Paris shootings: investigation launched into where gunmen got GoPro cameras

Officials try to pinpoint when and where cameras found in possession of Kouachi brothers and Amédy Coulibaly were obtained



Published: 12 Jan 2015




Paris shootings: investigation launched into where gunmen got GoPro cameras


















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more on this story














Cherif Kouachi during 2008 terror trial: 'I've been set up' - video

File footage of one of the Paris gunmen, Cherif Kouachi, arriving at court in 2008 on charges of helping to funnel fighters to Iraq's insurgency



Published: 13 Jan 2015




Cherif Kouachi during 2008 terror trial: 'I've been set up' - video












Analysis Charlie Hebdo attackers: born, raised and radicalised in Paris

The radicalisation of the Kouachi brothers began in a picturesque park in the capital while Amédy Coulibaly took the first steps towards terrorism in prison, but what the three had in common was growing up on the margins of French society



Published: 12 Jan 2015




Charlie Hebdo attackers: born, raised and radicalised in Paris












Paris shootings: investigation launched into where gunmen got GoPro cameras

Officials try to pinpoint when and where cameras found in possession of Kouachi brothers and Amédy Coulibaly were obtained



Published: 12 Jan 2015




Paris shootings: investigation launched into where gunmen got GoPro cameras












Paris attacks: 10,000 troops deployed as France hunts for accomplices

Mobilisation of 10,000 troops to guard potentially vulnerable locations comes as prime minister warns that ‘threat still present’



Published: 12 Jan 2015




Paris attacks: 10,000 troops deployed as France hunts for accomplices














Paris shootings: Jewish school ‘likely target’ of gunman Coulibaly




Published: 12 Jan 2015




Paris shootings: Jewish school ‘likely target’ of gunman Coulibaly








Analysis Mentor of Charlie Hebdo gunmen has been UK-based




Published: 11 Jan 2015




Mentor of Charlie Hebdo gunmen has been UK-based








Paris gunman Amedy Coulibaly declared allegiance to Isis




Published: 11 Jan 2015




Paris gunman Amedy Coulibaly declared allegiance to Isis








Charlie Hebdo: a letter to my British friends

Olivier Tonneau




Published: 13 Jan 2015




Charlie Hebdo: a letter to my British friends

















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