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1 million people and 40+ world leaders to march against terror in Paris

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C

ComputerMKII

Banned
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Paris-march-route.svg


‘France will shout its love for liberty and tolerance. Come in numbers’

Up to a million people – including dozens of world leaders – will converge on Paris on Sunday in a show of defiance and unity after terrorist attacks that left 17 people dead last week in the French capital.

In what will be one of the most significant and emotional public gatherings in postwar French history, President François Hollande will be joined by David Cameron, Angela Merkel and the Italian prime minister, Matteo Renzi, in an unprecedented solidarity march through the centre of the city.

The French capital has been in shock since the massacre of 12 people at the offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo by two French-born brothers who claimed to be avenging the prophet Muhammad. The horror and fear were amplified when another attacker gunned down a traffic policewoman on Thursday and returned to shoot four shoppers at a Jewish supermarket on Friday. All three attackers were killed in shootouts on Friday. The French prime minister, Manuel Valls, said Sunday’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. Come in numbers.”

Amid a swirl of hostile rhetoric, including from media mogul Rupert Murdoch who said on Twitter that all Muslims should be held responsible for the Paris attacks, the family of the Muslim policeman gunned down outside the Charlie Hebdo office spoke out for the first time. Ahmed Merabet was proud of his job and of the country he died defending, they said. “I address this to all the racists, the Islamophobes and the antisemites: you mustn’t mix up extremism with Muslims,” said Ahmed’s brother, Malik Merabet. “The madmen have no colour nor religion. Islam is a religion of peace, of love … my brother was a Muslim and he was killed by two terrorists, by false Muslims.”

Six of the supermarket hostages, including a toddler and his father, were saved by a Muslim store employee, Lassana Bathily, who hid them and then risked his life to conceal their presence.

“When they came running down [into the basement] I opened the door of the fridge,” he told French channel BFM TV. “Several came in with me. I turned off the light and the fridge. I closed the door and I said ‘You stay quiet there – I’m going back out’.” The four hostages killed in the attack on the Jewish supermarket were named as Yoav Hattab, Philippe Braham, Yohan Cohen and François-Michel Saada. ]The Conseil Représentatif des Institutions Juives de France, the main French Jewish umbrella organisation, condemned the antisemitic nature of the attack, saying: “These French fellow citizens were slaughtered coldly and pitilessly, because they were Jewish.”

Travel on public transport in and around Paris will be free on Sunday to allow hundreds of thousands to get to and from the demonstration, and at least one train operator has cut prices for people coming from other cities. Around 250,000 people had already joined marches in other French cities on Saturday.

The government has promised a massive security operation to keep marchers safe amid fear of another attack. Police are hunting Hayat Boumeddiene, the 26-year-old partner of supermarket killer Amedy Coulibaly, who they say may have been an accomplice in Thursday’s shooting. On the run now, she was close to extremist friends of her husband, and could be armed and dangerous. But there were reports that Boumeddiene had flown to Turkey on 2 January and was in Syria by the end of last week.

“There will be a public order plan of exceptional magnitude to make sure the rally goes well and to guarantee maximum security,” said French interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve. “The terror alert will be maintained at its highest level in the Ile-de-France.”

At least 500 extra military personnel will be on duty in the greater Paris region. Thousands of uniformed and plain-clothes police stationed in and around the march will be looking out for potential attackers trying to drive into marchers, or taking up positions on rooftops or balconies, a police source told the AFP news agency.

Cameron will fly out to Paris on Sunday to attend the march, and London landmarks including Tower Bridge and Trafalgar Square will show the colours of the French flag from 4pm. The attacks in France will be high on the agenda when Cameron visits Washington for talks with President Barack Obama on Thursday and Friday.

A “survivors’ issue” of Charlie Hebdo will be published on Wednesday and will be sold outside France because of the huge global attention – marking a turnaround for a publication that just a week ago seemed on the brink of folding. One million copies will be printed instead of the usual 60,000.

The French government, newspapers and companies around the world have pitched in cash, transportation and other help to ensure the issue reaches an unprecedented audience. All money from the sales will go to the families of the 12 people murdered in the attack on Wednesday.

Keeping Charlie Hebdo in print is being seen in France as an act of defiance against the Islamists who sought to extinguish it, and as a statement in support of free speech. However, the attacks have also emboldened militants and their sympathisers, the Associated Press reported, with supporters of jihadist groups on Twitter and other social media lionising the Kouachi brothers. They have been organising under the Arabic hashtags #Parisattack and #Parisisburning, with some calling the newspaper assault a holy attack.
Click to expand...
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/11/france-love-for-liberty-and-tolerance
 
S

Silphonica

Banned
It's a conspiracy, this is the start of the new world order, gather all of the world's most influential people in one place, bomb it and then the reptiles will have completed their last plan for the biggest scale coup d'etat.

This is it folks.
 
C

ComputerMKII

Banned
The AFP news agency provides this list of leaders attending the Paris rally today:

EUROPE
  • French President Francois 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
  • European Union President Donald Tusk
  • 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
  • Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy
  • Portuguese Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho
  • Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka
  • Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico
  • Latvian Prime Minister Laimdota Straujuma
  • Bulgarian Prime Minister Boïko Borissov
  • Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban
  • Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic
  • Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel
  • Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat
  • Slovenian Prime Minister Miro Cerar
  • Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven
  • 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 Davutoglu
  • Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg
  • Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibachvili
  • Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
  • Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz

NORTH AMERICA
  • US Attorney General Eric Holder
  • Canadian Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney

MIDDLE EAST
  • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman
  • Jordanian King Abdullah II and Queen Rania
  • Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas
  • United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan
  • Qatari Sheikh Mohamed Ben Hamad Ben Khalifa Al Thani
  • Bahrain Foreign Minister Sheikh Khaled ben Ahmed Al Khalifa and Prince Abdullah Ben Hamad al-Khalifa

AFRICA
  • Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita
  • Gabonese President Ali Bongo
  • Niger President Mahamadou Issoufou
  • Benin President Thomas Boni Yayi
  • Tunisian Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa
  • Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra
 
U

UnluckyKate

Member
Still not sure if I'll go. Seems a good walk of course but I don't feel Confortable packed with so many people. Still want to experience the emotion of the demonstration
 
C

Chariot

Member
Say, is the US Attorney General someone really important or is this just a token guy? Same goes for russia. Could at least send a vice-president.
 
D

DrBo42

Member
Azurex said:
Seems like the perfect place for mass-scale terrorist attack
Click to expand...

Yeah not the greatest idea to have a bunch of leaders marching in public but it does send a strong message.

Edit: Holy shit at that deployment info. Is that the largest collection of security personnel ever to protect an event? I feel like it has to be a record.
 
A

Arksy

Member
Chariot said:
Say, is the US Attorney General someone really important or is this just a token guy? Same goes for russia. Could at least send a vice-president.
Click to expand...

He's the chief legal officer of the country. He's tasked with upholding the integrity of the legal system. He's quite important.
 
K

Kabouter

Member
The French prime minister, Manuel Valls, said Sunday’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.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure all those world leaders attending necessarily agree with the whole idea of freedom. Certainly it doesn't seem to exactly be in line with domestic policies in countries like Turkey and Russia.
 
Alx

Alx

Member
I'll be going.
Great to have support from such a diverse international community, it will definitely send a big message.
 
Hexa

Hexa

Member
Chariot said:
Say, is the US Attorney General someone really important or is this just a token guy? Same goes for russia. Could at least send a vice-president.
Click to expand...

Its an interesting choice. He's the head of a department (Justice). Not as powerful as Department of State or Department of Defense but other than that he's probably tied with Treasury for next most powerful or something like that. It's kind of hard to rank lol.
 
F

Fiktion

Banned
Chariot said:
Say, is the US Attorney General someone really important or is this just a token guy? Same goes for russia. Could at least send a vice-president.
Click to expand...
The Attorney General is one of the top four cabinet members, along with the Secretaries of State, Treasury, and Defense. He actually has more real power and responsibility than the Vice President. He's the government's top lawyer and basically represents the country as a legal entity.
 
I

Iksenpets

Banned
Chariot said:
Say, is the US Attorney General someone really important or is this just a token guy? Same goes for russia. Could at least send a vice-president.
Click to expand...

It's one of the four cabinet positions that would typically be considered very important, 7th place in the line of succession for the president, but yeah, I would think Vice President or Secretary of State would be more fitting for this, but I guess Biden and Kerry are busy.
 
A

Arksy

Member
Kabouter said:
I'm not sure all those world leaders attending necessarily agree with the whole idea of freedom. Certainly it doesn't seem to exactly be in line with domestic policies in countries like Turkey and Russia.
Click to expand...

This is hardly a time for sniping, don't you think? Yes, I agree it might be hypocritical that Turkey's PM is attending since Turkey has prisons full of journalists these days, but considering it's still a secular republic which has been enduring terrorist attacks for years....it's still a good showing of solidarity with the rest of the world...and maybe, and maybe some of these ideas might catch on to them..*fingers crossed*
 
K

Kabouter

Member
Arksy said:
This is hardly a time for sniping, don't you think? Yes, I agree it might be hypocritical that Turkey's PM is attending since Turkey has prisons full of journalists these days, but considering it's still a secular republic which has been enduring terrorist attacks for years....it's still a good showing of solidarity with the rest of the world.
Click to expand...

I certainly think it's a good showing of solidarity, and appreciate the fact that they're there, but it's unfortunate that ideals they march for abroad can't be lived up to at home. I don't think there's any problem in highlighting that fact either.
 
C

ComputerMKII

Banned
By the way, here's a little game: out of all the countries represented in the march, count those in which Charlie Hebdo is censored or banned, or those where freedom of the press is restricted.
 
C

Chariot

Member
Arksy said:
He's the chief legal officer of the country. He's tasked with upholding the integrity of the legal system. He's quite important.
Click to expand...

Hexa said:
Its an interesting choice. He's the head of a department (Justice). Not as powerful as Department of State or Department of Defense but other than that he's probably tied with Treasury for next most powerful or something like that. It's kind of hard to rank lol.
Click to expand...

Fiktion said:
The Attorney General is one of the top four cabinet members, along with the Secretaries of State, Treasury, and Defense. He actually has more real power and responsibility than the Vice President. He's the government's top lawyer and basically represents the country as a legal entity.
Click to expand...

Iksenpets said:
It's one of the four cabinet positions that would typically be considered very important, 7th place in the line of succession for the president, but yeah, I would think Vice President or Secretary of State would be more fitting for this, but I guess Biden and Kerry are busy.
Click to expand...
Arcia said:
He has a lot of dealings with terrorism in his job, so I would say he is a relevant guy for the situation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Holder#War_on_Terrorism
Click to expand...
Fair enough, that makes sense.
 
A

Arksy

Member
ComputerMKII said:
By the way, here's a little game: out of all the countries represented in the march, count those in which Charlie Hebdo is censored or banned, or those where freedom of the press is restricted.
Click to expand...

Here's hoping that the idea will catch on. :p

Kabouter said:
I certainly think it's a good showing of solidarity, and appreciate the fact that they're there, but it's unfortunate that ideals they march for abroad can't be lived up to at home. I don't think there's any problem in highlighting that fact either.
Click to expand...

I agree, but I'd bring every leader from a country with restricted press I could. In the hope that some of them would at least see why it was so important. I'm hoping this becomes a worldwide rally for the concept. Considering the amount of political prestige concentrated in one spot, I'd say that that we were already halfway there.
 
K

kamorra

Fuck Cancer
All of this sounds so good. Showing solidarity and all but I can't stop worrying about what a big target this might be. If these two fuckers could get a rocket launcher others might too. You would need only one maniac standing at window with one, I don't know how you could prevent this. :(
 
G

G.O.O.

Member
ComputerMKII said:
List of participating world leaders

Europe

  • Spain: Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy
  • Hungary: Prime Minister Viktor Orban
Rest of the world

  • Israel: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Foreign Affairs Avigdor Lieberman
  • Jordan: King Abdullah II and Queen Rania
  • Russia: Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
  • Turkey: Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu
  • Gabon: President Ali Bongo
Click to expand...
Yeah, so much for freedom of speech. :/

Still going though, but that bugs me.

All of this sounds so good. Showing solidarity and all but I can't stop worrying about what a big target this might be. If these two fuckers could get a rocket launcher others might too. You would need only one maniac standing at window with one, I don't know how you could prevent this. :(
Click to expand...
The police also checked the buildings in the area from what I've heard.
 
Alx

Alx

Member
kamorra said:
All of this sounds so good. Showing solidarity and all but I can't stop worrying about what a big target this might be. If these two fuckers could get a rocket launcher others might too. You would need only one maniac standing at window with one, I don't know how you could prevent this. :(
Click to expand...

Well that's also part of the point, showing we're not afraid of terrorist attacks.
But honestly I don't think there is a major risk of attack from a sniper, the path of the march is rather short and the police will be checking all rooves and windows. The only thing that can't really be prevented is an attack at street level, which would target regular people rather than heads of state.
 
B

bobnowhere

Member
Arksy said:
If we could get anyone there sooner we probably would......I hope. We're a long way away. :(
Click to expand...

I suspect Parry was in Europe already, that's why he's there. I imagine with a bit more notice the GG would have gone.

He's the equivalent of the presiding officer in the US Senate or the Lord Speaker in the House of Lords for non-Aussies. Also I doubt more that 10% of Australians have any idea who he is.
 
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