It is estimated that between 1.2 and 1.6 million people gathered in the heart of Paris yesterday (11.01) for the "Unity Rally for Freedom and Democracy" including more than 40 world leaders in the most striking show of solidarity in the West against the threat of Islamic extremism last week. An assault on the "Charlie Hebdo" satirical newspaper offices claimed the lives of 17 victims on January 7. The French interior ministry said that this is the largest demonstration in modern French history, with over 3 million people joining rallies across France - more than the numbers who took to Paris streets when the Allies liberated the city from the Nazis in World War II.

Prime Minister Antonis Samaras joined his counterparts in the Paris Unity rally, and in a statement to a journalist of the French television France 2, Samaras: "France was a beacon of freedom for the whole world," he said and added: "Today we are all on its side. We are united with the French people, we are thinking of exactly the same things, namely freedom, the ideals of democracy. Furthermore, we are at their side in this battle for the defense of democratic ideals. That is what we seek, and that is why we were all here today. What we experienced was amazing."

Watch video Reuters: After attacks, world leaders join arm-in-arm in unprecedented Paris march