A Tale of Two Rallies

Paris:

Paris (AFP) - Hundreds of thousands of people and dozens of world leaders marched together through Paris Sunday in a historic show of solidarity and defiance after terrorist attacks in the French capital that claimed 17 lives.

French President Francois Hollande and leaders including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas marched at the front of the mammoth procession, which began near where gunmen killed 12 people at satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.

A sea of humanity flowed through Paris' iconic streets, breaking into applause and spontaneous renditions of the national anthem, as a shell-shocked France mourned the victims of three days of bloody violence.

"Charlie! Charlie!" chanted the vast crowd, in honour of the cartoonists and journalists killed at Charlie Hebdo over its lampooning of the Prophet Mohammed.

Emotions ran high in the grieving City of Light, with many of those marching bursting into tears as they came together under the banner of freedom of speech and liberty after France's worst terrorist bloodbath in more than half a century.

Lassina Traore, a 34-year-old French-born Muslim from the Ivory Coast, said the march is "a real sign of how strong France is. It shows that France is strong when she is united against these people."

Netanyahu and Abbas' presence was a stark demonstration of such unity, as they honoured victims that included four Jews at a kosher supermarket and a Muslim police officer.

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Kandahar:

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Hundreds in southern Afghanistan rallied to praise the killing of 12 people at the French newspaper Charlie Hebdo, calling the two gunmen "heroes" who meted out punishment for cartoons disrespectful to Islam's prophet, officials said Saturday.
The demonstrators also protested President Ashraf Ghani's swift condemnation of the bloody attack on the satirical newspaper, according to the officials in Uruzgan province.
The rally came after worshippers left Friday prayers at a local mosque in Chora district and swelled to several hundred people, said Chora police chief Abdul Qawi.

"The protesters were calling the attackers heroes and were shouting that those who had mocked the Prophet Mohammad were punished," Qawi said.

Provincial police chief Matiullah Khan said that police had been informed in advance of the demonstration, which was allowed under the Afghan constitution's free-speech provisions.

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