It’s time to bury nationalism
terrorism units, lined the streets of Paris during the event.
However, a topless woman protester – believed to be with feminist group Femen – with “Fake Peacemaker” written on her chest broke through the cordon and got within yards of Mr Trump’s armoured Cadillac. Officers led her away.
The ceremony came a day after a deeply symbolic moment of reconciliation when Mrs Merkel was the first German chancellor since the Second World War to visit the forest of Compiegne near Paris where the Armistice was signed in 1918.
On Saturday Mr Trump provoked anger by pulling out of a visit to the Aisne-Marne US Cemetery near Paris due to “bad weather”.
It was claimed that Marine 1, the presidential helicopter, would have struggled to get through the rain to the graveyard, which is the last resting place of US troops who fought in the First World War.
Mr Trump, who was in France with his wife Melania, also did not attend the inaugural Paris Peace Forum after the Armistice ceremony yesterday, which was designed to promote international cooperation to avoid war.
Mrs Merkel said the forum, which was attended by Mr Putin, showed that “today there is a will, and I say this on behalf of Germany with full conviction, to do everything to bring a more peaceful order to the world, even though we know we still have much work to do”.
Armistice ceremonies were held around the world, including in Sydney, Australia, where poppies were projected on to the Opera House. Ex-Gurkha Nirmal Purja, 35, placed a poppy at the top of Ama Dablam, a Himalayan mountain, at 11am.