The Republican marches (french: Marches républicaines) were a series of rallies that took place in cities across

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

on 10–11 January 2015 to honour the victims of the ''Charlie Hebdo'' shooting, the Montrouge shooting and the

Porte de Vincennes siege On 9 January 2015, Amedy Coulibaly, armed with a submachine gun, an assault rifle, and two Tokarev pistols, entered and attacked a Hypercacher kosher supermarket in Porte de Vincennes in Paris, France. There, Coulibaly murdered four Jewish ho ...

, as well as to voice support for

freedom of speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recogni ...

and

freedom of the press Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the fundamental principle that communication and expression through various media, including printed and electronic News media, media, especially publication, published materials, should be conside ...

. French government officials estimated that the rallies were attended by up to 3.7 million people nationwide, making them the largest public rallies in French history. By their broad appeal, they were the first mass movement of their kind since 1944, when Paris was liberated from the

Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...

at the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. In

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, due to the expected number of people, three streets were planned for the march from

Place de la République The Place de la République (known as the Place du Château d'Eau until 1879) is a square in Paris, located on the border between the 3rd, 10th and 11th arrondissements. The square has an area of .Warner, p. 250 Named after the First, Second a ...

Place de la Nation The Place de la Nation (formerly Place du Trône, subsequently Place du Trône-Renversé during the Revolution) is a circle on the eastern side of Paris, between Place de la Bastille and the Bois de Vincennes, on the border of the 11th and 12t ...

. It was estimated that between 1.5 and 2 million people marched down and nearby

Boulevard Voltaire Boulevard Voltaire is a well-known boulevard in the 11th arrondissement of Paris. It was created by Baron Georges-Eugène Haussmann during the reign of French emperor Napoleon III. Originally named Boulevard du Prince-Eugène, it was renamed Boul ...

in Paris. The Paris marches were attended by over 80 world leaders, from both Europe and around the world, including

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

François Hollande François Gérard Georges Nicolas Hollande (; born 12 August 1954) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2012 to 2017. He previously was First Secretary of the Socialist Party (PS) from 1997 to 2008, Mayor of Tulle from ...

. The presence during the marches of foreign leaders who are accused of not respecting freedom of speech in their own country has been criticised. In other cities in France, more than 300,000 rallied in

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

, about a quarter of its population. More than 100,000 marched in the streets of

Rennes Rennes (; br, Roazhon ; Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France at the confluence of the Ille and the Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department ...

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...

Grenoble lat, Gratianopolis , commune status = Prefecture and commune , image = Panorama grenoble.png , image size = , caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...

Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...

and

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

(within two days). Major rallies took place in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

and

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. In an interview prior to the Republican marches, cartoonist

Luz Luz ( ''Lūz'') is the name of two places in the Bible. Mentioned in Genesis Luz is the ancient name of a royal Canaanite city, connected with Bethel (Genesis 28:19; 35:6). It is debated among scholarsRashi on 28:17 whether Luz and Bethel repres ...

, one of the survivors of the ''Charlie Hebdo'' attack, described the show of support for the magazine as "wonderful", but bemoaned a lack of diversity of views in the public discourse following the attacks, which he said served the purposes of politicians, as well the use of symbols, which he characterised as contrary to the values of the magazine. He noted that, following the attacks, "

La Marseillaise "La Marseillaise" is the national anthem of France. The song was written in 1792 by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle in Strasbourg after the declaration of war by France against Austria, and was originally titled "Chant de guerre pour l'Armée du R ...

" had been sung many times by the public, which his dead colleagues would have scorned. Also speaking prior to the marches,

Willem Willem () is a Dutch and West FrisianRienk de Haan, ''Fryske Foarnammen'', Leeuwarden, 2002 (Friese Pers Boekerij), , p. 158. masculine given name. The name is Germanic, and can be seen as the Dutch equivalent of the name William in English, Gui ...

, another surviving cartoonist, said that a demonstration in support of free expression would be "naturally a good thing", but rejected the support of far-right figures such as

Marine Le Pen Marion Anne Perrine "Marine" Le Pen (; born 5 August 1968) is a French lawyer and politician who ran for the French presidency in 2012, 2017, and 2022. A member of the National Rally (RN; previously the National Front, FN), she served as its pre ...

and

Geert Wilders Geert Wilders (; born 6 September 1963) is a Dutch politician who has led the Party for Freedom (''Partij voor de Vrijheid'' – PVV) since he founded it in 2006. He is also the party's leader in the House of Representatives (''Tweede Kamer'' ...

: "We vomit on those who suddenly declare that they are our friends".

Main places

January 10

France

International

: 3,000 *

: 18,000 (8 January) *

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

: 2,000 *

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

: 500 *

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

: 1,000

January 11

France

File:Manif 11 janvier 2015 (2).JPG,

File:Dimanche 11 janv 2015 Reims soutien à Charlie 05969.JPG,

Reims Reims ( , , ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French department of Marne, and the 12th most populous city in France. The city lies northeast of Paris on the Vesle river, a tributary of the Aisne. Founded by ...

File:Rassemblement 11 janvier 2015 Dijon Place Darcy.jpg,

Dijon Dijon (, , ) (dated) * it, Digione * la, Diviō or * lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920. The earlies ...

File:RennesEstCharlie MarcheDu11Janvier2015 1.jpg,

International

File:Je Suis Charlie - Französische Botschaft Berlin 2.JPG, French Embassy,

File:Je Suis Charlie - Französische Botschaft Berlin 1.JPG, French Embassy, near

Brandenburger Tor The Brandenburg Gate (german: Brandenburger Tor ) is an 18th-century neoclassical monument in Berlin, built on the orders of Prussian king Frederick William II after restoring the Orangist power by suppressing the Dutch popular unrest. One ...

File:Je suis Charlie, Brussels 11 January 2015 (177).jpg, Brussels,

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

Notable participants

France

International

;Europe ;North America *

Steven Blaney Steven Blaney (born April 8, 1965) is a Canadian businessman and Conservative politician. He served as the Minister of Public Safety Canada (July 15, 2013 – November 4, 2015) and previously as the Minister of Veterans Affairs and Minister o ...

(Minister of Public Security of Canada) *

Jane D. Hartley Jane Dorothy Hartley (born April 18, 1950) is an American diplomat who has served as the United States ambassador to the United Kingdom in the Joe Biden administration since 2022. She served as the United States ambassador to France and Monaco fr ...

(

United States Ambassador to France The United States ambassador to France is the official representative of the president of the United States to the president of France. The United States has maintained diplomatic relations with France since the American Revolution. Relations we ...

) *

Victoria Nuland Victoria Jane Nuland (born July 1, 1961) is an American diplomat currently serving as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs. Nuland, a former member of the foreign service, served as the Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eura ...

(

Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs The Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs is a position within the United States Department of State that leads the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs charged with implementing American foreign policy in Europe and Eu ...

)White House: 'We should have sent someone with a higher profile'
CNN ;South America *

José Bustani José Maurício de Figueiredo Bustani (born June 5, 1945) is a Brazilian diplomat who was the first director-general of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons until he was ousted after pressure from the US government in April 20 ...

(Brazilian Ambassador to France) ;Asia ;Africa ;Institutions

Did not attend

Prime Minister of Iceland The prime minister of Iceland ( is, Forsætisráðherra Íslands) is Iceland's head of government. The prime minister is appointed formally by the president and exercises executive authority along with the cabinet subject to parliamentary suppor ...

Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson (; born 12 March 1975) is an Icelandic politician who was the prime minister of Iceland from May 2013 until April 2016. He was also chairman of the Progressive Party from 2009 to October 2016. He was elected to th ...

did not attend the march; his office released a statement citing the short notice, travel time and the Prime Minister's schedule, and emphasized that no invitation had been rejected, as none had been sent to him specifically. Sigmundur Davíð was the only Western European head of government not to attend the march; instead Iceland was represented by the deputy head of mission at the Icelandic Embassy in Paris, Nína Björk Jónsdóttir. Sigmundur Davíð's absence was criticized in Iceland, and his office acknowledged that a high-ranking official should have attended the march. *

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

did not attend the Paris march, citing the short notice and the logistics of providing the necessary security. The

Secret Service A secret service is a government agency, intelligence agency, or the activities of a government agency, concerned with the gathering of intelligence data. The tasks and powers of a secret service can vary greatly from one country to another. For ...

said it was not consulted and an agency official acknowledged that the Secret Service had pulled off previous last minute trips. White House spokesman

Josh Earnest Joshua Ryan Henry Earnest
''

Jane Hartley Jane Dorothy Hartley (born April 18, 1950) is an American diplomat who has served as the United States ambassador to the United Kingdom in the Joe Biden administration since 2022. She served as the United States ambassador to France and Monaco fr ...

.White House: We should have sent someone to Paris march
''USA Today''

United States Attorney General The United States attorney general (AG) is the head of the United States Department of Justice, and is the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government of the United States. The attorney general serves as the principal advisor to the p ...

Eric Holder Eric Himpton Holder Jr. (born January 21, 1951) is an American lawyer who served as the 82nd Attorney General of the United States from 2009 to 2015. Holder, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama, was the first African America ...

and

United States Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security The deputy secretary of homeland security is the chief operating officer of the United States Department of Homeland Security, with responsibility for managing day-to-day operations. The department has over 208,000 employees and an annual budge ...

Alejandro Mayorkas Alejandro Nicholas Mayorkas (born November 24, 1959) is a Cuban-American government official and attorney who has been serving as the seventh United States Secretary of Homeland Security since February 2, 2021. During the Obama administration, h ...

were in Paris for a security summit convened after the shootings, but did not attend the Paris rally.America's absence at Paris rally a mistake
''Chicago Tribune'' The lack of senior American officials was criticized.

National Front controversy

During the organisation march, a controversy arose when

was told she was not invited in the marches. This is due to the National Front reputation of divisiveness. François Lamy, one of the organisers, said it is not where the National Front should be; it is not where a political party which, for years, has divided French citizens because of their origin or their religion should be. The President closed this political issue declaring that "every citizen can come...it is not controlled." "Tous les citoyens peuvent venir (...), il n'y a pas de contrôles" http://www.franceinfo.fr/actu/faits-divers/article/marche-republicaine-fn-tous-les-citoyens-peuvent-venir-la-manifestation-pour-hollande-628859

References

External links

* {{January 2015 France attacks 2015 in France 2015 in Paris 2015 protests Charlie Hebdo shooting Events relating to freedom of expression Protest marches Protests in France