Tears, cheers but 'no fear' at Paris rally … and Obama and the U.S.A. are invisible!
Paris (AFP) - A metro driver rallies a packed train, a crowd applauds and cheers the police and a heartbroken man falls sobbing into President Francois Hollande's arms.
As a shaken France united after its darkest week in decades, such unusual scenes were the order of the day.
From early morning until long after sunset Parisians from all walks of life left their homes to join the sea of people rallying against the terror they faced this week, when 17 people died in a three-day killing spree by jihadists.
They came from the poor suburbs outside the city limits and from the chic quarters of the centre, they jogged, they cycled, they crammed into packed underground metro trains and when all else failed, they walked there.
But they came. For the journalists, police officers, Jews, Muslims and ordinary people killed by extremists.
"Who am I?" yelled a driver on one metro line. "Charlie!" responded the crowd, clapping, on a journey where people usually avert gazes and stay glued to their cellphones."I am really happy to work today and take you to the Republican march," said another driver on the Metro also to applause.
The series of attacks which started with a massacre at the Charlie Hebdo weekly on Wednesday and ended with a deadly hostage drama in a Jewish supermarket on Friday, struck as the Gallic mood was already particularly gloomy.
It is the middle of winter, the economy is in the doldrums and the president is the most unpopular in modern history.
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A protester holds a placard reading "Free together, not afraid" at Place de la Nation duri …
But the tragedy spurred the greatest outpouring of patriotic spirit seen in decades, with the French flag fluttering through the air and the Marseillaise anthem ringing out through days of marches.
One of the most unexpected scenes of the day, was when a crowd burst into spontaneous applause for passing gendarmes, shouting "Thank You" -- in a country where riot police are notoriously unpopular.
Then there were the tears.
First from some marchers unable to contain their emotion, then from families of those killed in the three days of terror who wept and held hands.
One employee of the Charlie Hebdo magazine where 12 people were massacred on Wednesday fell into Hollande's arms as he greeted those affected.
Earlier, dozens of world leaders linked arms, leading the mammoth procession as over a million people crammed tightly into the main arteries and side streets of Paris.
- 'We can live together' -
One banner covered in the cartoons proclaimed: "Laugh Charlie, it isn't over."
