Paris: Huge Crowd Marches To Defy Terrorists

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Around a million people are marching through Paris in a show of defiance and unity in the wake of three days of terror that left 17 people dead.

The French capital is on high alert as the crowd makes its way from the historic Place de la Republique to Place de la Nation.

:: Read live updates from the march here.

The families of those who died in the shootings, many of them weeping and embracing, led the march alongside heads of state and royalty.

World leaders linked hands as they set off on the 1.9 mile route.

Among those at the head of the crowd were French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron.

Before they set off, a minute of silence was observed for those who died in the attacks.

Many of those marching are carrying the French national flag and tributes to the victims of the attacks on a satirical magazine, a Jewish supermarket and police.

Occasional bursts of applause and chants of "Charlie! Charlie!" in memory of the journalists gunned down at Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday could be heard from the crowds.

Small groups sang the La Marseillaise, the French national anthem.

Giant letters attached to a statue in the Place de la Republique spelt out the word "Pourquoi?" (Why?).

Some of the marchers were in tears as they gathered on a cold but bright day.

More than 5,500 police and military personnel have been deployed, including 2,200 who are guarding the route of the march.

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Gallery: Unity March Over France Attacks

Huge crowds are gathering for the unity march in Paris, in protest at this week's terror attacks. Continue through for more images...

Dozens of world leaders, including David Cameron, are taking part in the march

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A man holds up a pencil during the unity rally on the streets of Paris, a tribute to those killed in the Charlie Hebdo shootings on Wednesday

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Some 2,000 police officers and 1,350 soldiers are stationed at other locations around the city, including at places of worship, media outlets and public buildings.

A total of 150 plain clothes detectives will mingle among the crowd and a security perimeter will be enforced, with roads and some metro stations closed.

Nearly 10,000 people took to the streets of Dammartin-en-Goele, the small town where the manhunt for the brothers behind the Charlie Hebdo attack came to a bloody end.

More than 600,000 people took part in rallies elsewhere in France, according to a tally by the AFP news agency.

In Saint-Etienne in the southeast, some 60,000 people, more than a third of the population, joined a march from the railway station to the town hall.

The scenes were repeated everywhere from Perpignan in the Pyrenees of the south to Blois in the Loire valley.

Ahead of the Paris rally, French President Francois Hollande said: "Today, Paris is the capital of the world.

"Our entire country will rise up toward something better."

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Gallery: France Attacks: Marches Worldwide

People in many countries around the world have taken part in demonstrations of unity with the French people after the attacks in Paris. A large number of people gathered in Madrid

The French Ambassador to Cyprus joined crowds at Eleftheria Square in central Nicosia, Cyprus

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Brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi, who were behind the attack on Charlie Hebdo, and their associate Amedy Coulibaly, who shot dead a policewoman and then killed four people at the kosher supermarket, were killed by police on Friday.

Authorities are hunting Coulibaly's "armed and dangerous" partner Hayat Boumeddiene.

:: Watch Sky News Special Report: Paris Attack at 8.30pm. See it on skynews.com, our mobile apps and on Sky News - channels Sky 501, Virgin Media 602, Freesat 202, Freeview 132.

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