‘We will come out of this stronger’
World leaders converge on Paris in a show of unity in the face of terror, but also sparking security concerns in shaken nation
“They know that the folks that they’re opposed to would see this as a great target.”
MARTIN INNES SECURITY EXPERT TALKING ABOUT TODAY’S GATHERING OF WORLD LEADERS
French officials raced to protect world leaders, including Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu, who are joining a march in Paris to commemorate terror attacks on Charlie Hebdo magazine and a kosher grocery.
Prime Minister Manuel Valls said France was at “war against terrorists, Jihadists, Islamic fundamentalism,” as police confirmed a report in Le Parisien newspaper that the fourth suspect linked to the assaults fled the country days before the spree that claimed 20 lives.
The disclosure that Hayat Boumeddiene, believed to be the wife of Amady Coulibaly — killed after taking hostages in the grocery on Jan. 9 — was in Syria when police were hunting her may deepen questions over possible intelligence failures. Valls noted “clear flaws” in security and intelligence services.
The French government is trying to restore calm after its worst terrorist attacks in more than half a century. The march will feature Prime Minister David Cameron of the U.K., German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Netanyahu, along with leaders of Spain, Italy, the European Union, Turkey and Tunisia. The U.S. will be represented by the ambassador to France, Jane Hartley.
“Usually when you have these kind of events with very, very important people, they are planned months in advance,” said Martin Innes, the head of the Police Science Institute at Cardiff University in Wales. “They know that the folks that they’re opposed to would see this as a great target.”
The march will start at 3 p.m. at Place de la République, finishing at the Place de la Nation — less than 1.5 kilometres from the kosher grocery where four hostages perished. It will be comprised of two routes: one, three kilometres along the Boulevard Voltaire, and a second winding further to the north along the Boulevard de Menilmontant and along the Avenue Philippe-Auguste. The Interior Ministry declined to specify which route the heads of state would follow.
France will deploy 4,300 police, including 150 in plainclothes, to protect the leaders, as well as1,350 soldiers across Paris for the demonstration, in which the Interior Ministry expects “several hundred thousand” people to take part. Each leader will probably have his or her own detail as well.
Sharpshooters will be positioned along the roofs lining the march. The public-transport network, while free, will be under particularly close observation, as will embassies, public buildings and media offices, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said in a press conference.
“These are exceptional measures because of the scope of this gathering,” Cazeneuve said.
An estimated 700,000 people demonstrated across France Friday, including in the cities of Toulouse, Lyon, Rennes, Nice and Marseille.
“We will come out of this stronger,” President François Hollande said in a televised address. “We are a free people that won’t give in to pressure, that isn’t afraid.”
Meanwhile, French politicians are stressing national unity. French Muslim leaders have unanimously and harshly condemned the killers and told the country’s Muslims to turn out “massively” for Sunday’s rallies.
“The demonstrations that the French people have been participating in since Wednesday are the best response to terrorism,” Valls said Friday.
The attacks this week were collectively the deadliest terrorist strikes in France since the OAS group, which opposed France’s withdrawal from Algeria, killed 28 people in a 1961 train bombing.