article: "Le onze Septembre Francais" declared the banner headline in France's Le Monde newspaper. "A French September 11th." But now France also has 1/11, another set of numbers etched in the annals of the terrible history of terrorism and stirring stories of people who fight back. Nearly four million took to the streets and squares across France on Sunday 11 January for a Unity march in the wake of three days of terror that left 17 dead, and a nation saddened, stunned, and - it is hoped - strengthened in a new solidarity. Never have so many French citizens turned out in such large numbers since the liberation of Paris from Nazi Germany in 1944. "I'm proud of my country," reflects French journalist Nicolas Henin. "People often join protests for more jobs or higher salaries, but this wasn't for something immediate. It was for France's future." More than a decade ago, in the wake of the shocking attacks in New York and Washington on 11 September, the slogan that sounded from many capitals was: "We're standing shoulder to shoulder." Now there is a new version of the same refrain in the most pronounced show of solidarity since then: "Le monde se leve" (The world rises) was the Sunday morning headline in Le Journal du Dimanche. The morning after, one word was splashed across many front pages in France - "Debout" (Standing). "The world stands with France" was the top line of the International New York Times. Nearly 50 world leaders cleared their diaries to literally stand shoulder to shoulder again. They marched, arms linked, along part of the route to be, and be seen to be, part of a French story of pain and resolve. Now, more than ever, this battle is recognised as a global fight against rising extremism. But some leaders had other reasons too. The media watchdog Reporters Without Borders condemned the presence of "predators… the leaders from countries where journalists and bloggers are systematically persecuted". "It's shocking to see some of the leaders here," laments journalist Nicolas Henin. But, as we stand in the midst of the densely packed, diverse, cheering, flag-waving crowd at the main gathering place of La Place de la Republique, he speaks of a "feel-good day" for millions of people who came from across France and beyond. "I had to come too," he remarks. It was in this very place that smaller but still significant crowds had gathered every month, for 10 months, to call for his release, and for the three other French journalists who had been held hostage by the Islamic State group in Syria. Sunday's call for unity came in the wake of the attack on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and the murder of four legendary French cartoonists who have long wielded the sharpest of pens. Theirs is a history of France, from the street protests of 1968, to the civil conflict in Algeria in the 1990s, to the worst terrorist attack in half a century that cost them their lives. By Friday, a series of attacks had also claimed the
summary: In France, many reached for the phrase recognised by all - 9/11.