A crowd of historic proportions marched through Paris on Sunday to honor the 17 victims of a three-day terror spree as new information emerged about one of the gunmen involved. These are the latest developments:
Unity rally
In what France’s Interior Ministry called the biggest demonstration in the country’s history, the streets of Paris filled up for a giant display of unity and defiance in the face of the attacks against a satirical newspaper, a Jewish store and police. French media estimated up to 3 million took part, more than when the Allies liberated the city from the Nazis in World War II.
French President Francois Hollande was flanked by more than 40 world leaders walking arm in arm at the front of the procession. Also marching were families of the victims and journalists from newspaper Charlie Hebdo, the target of a shooting massacre that left 12 dead on Wednesday.
Rallies were also held in Cairo, Sydney, Berlin, Stockholm, Tokyo, and other cities worldwide.
Gunman’s video
A video emerged on militant websites Sunday purporting to show the gunman who killed four hostages at a kosher grocery pledging allegiance to the Islamic State group and defending the attacks on the satirical newspaper, a Jewish store and police.
Amedy Coulibaly, who had earlier killed a French policewoman, was shot to death as police raided the kosher supermarket on Friday.
Apparently filmed over several days and edited after the attacks in France, the footage shows Coulibaly displaying a small arsenal of weapons, doing pushups and, in broken Arabic, giving fealty to IS militants. Two men who dealt drugs with Coulibaly confirmed his identify to The Associated Press.
Brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi, who massacred 12 people in the newspaper attack, were killed in a separate police raid on Friday.
Jewish victims
Israel’s prime minister said the bodies of four French Jews killed in the hostage standoff at the kosher grocery will be buried in Israel.
In a statement issued from Paris, Benjamin Netanyahu said he had “acceded to the request of the families of the victims of the murderous terror attack” and directed the government to assist in bringing the bodies to Israel. A funeral is tentatively set for Tuesday.
Netanyahu said he also asked French President Francois Hollande to maintain heightened security at Jewish institutions.
Last year, France topped the immigration list to Israel, according to the quasi-governmental Jewish Agency. Nearly 7,000 new immigrants from France came to Israel in 2014, double the number from the previous year.
5 released from custody
French authorities said they released five people detained in connection with the Paris attacks. That leaves no one in custody, though family members of the attackers have been given preliminary charges, said prosecutor’s spokeswoman Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre.
Coulibaly’s widow, who has been named as an accomplice, is still being sought and was last traced near the Turkey-Syrian border.
German arson attack
In Germany, arsonists early Sunday attacked a newspaper that republished Charlie Hebdo’s cartoons. Two men were detained. No one was hurt in the fire, but the newspaper Hamburger Morgenpost said several files in its archives were destroyed.
