POLITICAL and religious leaders representing practically every tendency in France led thousands of demonstrators yesterday evening to remember the seven French Trappist monks killed by the Armed Islamic Group in Algeria last week.
The rally filled a square opposite the Eiffel Tower.
In a highly unusual united display of national solidarity and grief, the silent protest was headed by the Gaullist Prime Minister, Mr Alain Juppe the Socialist and Communist leaders, Mr Lionel Jospin and Mr Robert Hue, the Archbishop of Paris, Cardinal Jean Marie Lustiger, and representatives of the High Council of French Muslims.
Every political party was represented except the far right National Front, which was not invited. Also represented were the Council of Jewish Institutions of France, Protestant churches, intellectuals, the major trade unions, and anti racist groups.
The nearly 20,000 demonstrators in the Trocadero Square carried white flowers of peace and stood in front of a banner which read "If we remain silent, even the stones will scream." This was what one of the Trappist monks had said following a previous Earlier yesterday the National Assembly had observed a minute's silence a motion from its Communist deputies.
Press and TV interviews over the weekend Cardinal Lustiger, who is of Jewish origin, clarified an earlier appeal to Muslims to "drive out hatred" by stressing that Muslims, particularly in France, were not carriers of hate or violence.
. President Jacques Chirac announced yesterday that military conscription would be eliminated in January 1997, ending a century old system as part of a major overhaul of the French military.
Mr Chirac was appearing on television to spell out the details of a plan to create an all voluntary army. Young men who were born after January 1st, 1979, would not face the draft, he said.