PARIS — An extraordinary chain of 1.5 million people, led by a group of world leaders linking arms, marched down the Boulevard Voltaire in a show of force Sunday meant to illustrate the power of unity and freedom of expression over fanaticism and terror.
After a barrage of violence that traumatized the nation and left 17 victims dead, the boulevards of Paris produced a striking counter image: French President François Hollande arm in arm with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and flanked by the likes of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and a host of European and African leaders.
An estimated 4 million people nationwide — more than a third of them in Paris — mobilized, with sister demonstrations of support erupting from Ramallah to Sydney to Washington. “Paris is the capital of the world today,” Hollande said.
Yet the show of solidarity could not entirely dispel the unease that has followed the attacks.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, who was in Paris for a security conference, said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that the prospect of “lone wolf” terrorist attacks in the United States “frankly keeps me up at night.”
The United States was represented at the march by Jane Hartley, the U.S. ambassador to France.
Israeli leaders urged European Jews to move to Israel to escape anti-Semitism.
But on the streets of Paris, Christians, atheists, Jews and Muslims stood side by side, sending up shouts of “Charlie, Charlie, Freedom of Speech!” — a reference to Charlie Hebdo, the satirical newspaper whose offices were attacked by Islamist extremists at the start of three days of terror last week.
Crushing throngs filled the streets with the red, white and blue of the French flag as tearful family members of the fallen walked in a place of honor on a symbolic 2.1-mile path from the Place de la République to the Place de la Nation.
A group of Muslims threw white roses from the sidewalks. The monumental robes of a giant Marianne, the symbol of France and personification of liberty and reason, flowed through the crowd. Authorities called it the largest mass rally in French history.
Participants purposely marched down the Boulevard Voltaire, the nom de plume of the philosopher of the French Enlightenment who advocated religious tolerance and freedom of expression. It was, many here said, a push back against religious extremism in a nation that puts secularism first.
“We are here to show that we are not afraid, that we are all French and that we will not be defeated by fear,” said Patrick Bidegaray, 32, a corporate consultant and self-described atheist who attended the march with nine friends, including Christians, Muslims and Jews. “They want to divide us, but we are France. We are the Republic, first before everything. We are the Republic. Today, we are one.”
Yet even as the marchers spoke of unity, there was also trepidation over a toxic combination of ills laid bare by the attacks, including the increasing specter of homegrown extremism and the growing arm of the militant group known as the Islamic State.
Yet in the aftermath of the attack, France faces other challenges, too, chiefly growing anti-Semitism and the possibility of a backlash against the Muslim community by the far right.
On Sunday, however, the far right National Front, which was snubbed by organizers of the Paris march, failed to draw mass crowds of its own. Roughly 440 miles south of Paris in the city of Beaucaire, Marine Le Pen, the National Front’s leader, held a modest rally of less than 1,000. Some bystanders heckled and booed her.
“Thank you for being here to defend the values of liberty,” Le Pen told the crowd, which had cried out chants of “This is our home!”
