World leaders join Paris ‘cry for freedom’ rally

MANILA, Philippines - France vowed to combat terrorism with “a cry for freedom” in a giant rally for unity on Sunday after three days of bloodshed that horrified the world.

The rally is also a huge security challenge for a nation on alert for more violence following the attacks that have left France a changed land.

Hundreds of thousands of people marched Saturday in cities from Toulouse in the south to Rennes in the west to honor the victims, and Paris expects hundreds of thousands more at Sunday’s unity rally. More than 2,000 police are being deployed, in addition to tens of thousands already guarding synagogues, mosques, schools and other sites around France.

Unity against extremism is the overriding message for Sunday’s rally. Among the expected attendees are the Israeli prime minister and the Palestinian president; the Ukrainian president and Russian foreign minister, and the leaders of Britain, Germany, NATO, the Arab League and African nations. And the French masses, from across the political and religious spectrum.

Top European and US security officials are also holding a special emergency meeting in Paris about fighting terrorism.

Participation of European leaders including Germany’s Angela Merkel, Britain’s David Cameron and Italy’s Matteo Renzi in a silent march through Paris with President Francois Hollande will pose further demands for security forces on Sunday.

Arab League representatives and some Muslim African leaders as well as Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu will attend.

The rally “must show the power, the dignity of the French people who will be shouting out of love of freedom and tolerance,” Prime Minister Manuel Valls said Saturday.

“Journalists were killed because they defended freedom. Policemen were killed because they were protecting you. Jews were killed because they were Jewish,” he said.

“The indignation must be absolute and total – not for three days only, but permanently.” 

Phl condemns attacks

The Philippine government also joined the global indignation against the attacks.

“We’re joining France and the whole world in condemning the attacks on the journalists, policemen and innocent civilians in the latest terror attacks and hostage-taking incident in Paris,” Press Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said.

Coloma said government agents and the intelligence community of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police have joined forces in monitoring terror threats, especially now that Pope Francis is set to arrive in Manila on Jan. 15.

Terror alert at highest level

The French president held an emergency security meeting Saturday and Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said the government is maintaining its terror alert for the Paris region at the highest level while investigators determine whether the attackers were part of a larger extremist network.

Five people are in custody in connection with the attacks, and family members of the attackers have been given preliminary charges.

In a sign of the tense atmosphere, a security perimeter was briefly imposed at Disneyland Paris on Saturday before being lifted, a spokeswoman said, without elaborating.

The prime minister and Muslim and Christian supporters joined Jewish groups in a vigil after sundown Saturday to mourn the four people killed at the kosher market. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked France to maintain heightened security at Jewish institutions even after the return to routine.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the attacks. Gaza’s Islamic Hamas leaders condemned the attack on the satirical newspaper, but pointedly refrained from mentioning the kosher supermarket.

Loyalists of al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group extolled the attackers of the Charlie Hebdo newspaper as “lions of the caliphate.” They described the attack as revenge for the French satirical publication’s mockery of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad and for France’s military involvement in Muslim countries.

That attack Wednesday was the first act in France’s worst terrorist attacks in decades.

Brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi methodically massacred 12 people at the Charlie Hebdo offices, led police on a chase for two days and were then cornered Friday at a printing house near Charles de Gaulle Airport on Friday. Separately, Coulibaly shot a policewoman to death and attacked the Paris kosher market, threatening more violence unless the police let the Kouachis go.

It all ended at dusk Friday with near-simultaneous raids at the printing plant and the market that left all three gunmen dead. – AP, Delon Porcalla