PARIS: At least 3.7 million people demonstrated in France on Sunday to honour the victims of terrorist attacks last week, the Interior Ministry said.

The ministry said millions of people took to the streets nationwide, with Paris alone seeing an “unprecedented” 1.5 million demonstrators, AFP reported.

The ministry said it was the biggest popular demonstration ever registered in the country.

Dozens of world leaders including Muslim and Jewish statesmen linked arms and led hundreds of thousands of French citizens in an unprecedented march under high security to pay tribute to victims of militant attacks.

President Francois Hollande and leaders from Germany, Italy, Israel, Turkey, Britain and the Palestinian territories among others, moved off from the central Place de la Republique ahead of a sea of French and other flags.

Giant letters attached to a statue in the square spelt out the word Pourquoi?” (Why?) and small groups sang the “La Marseillaise” national anthem.

Some 2,200 police and soldiers patrolled Paris streets to protect marchers from would-be attackers, with police snipers on rooftops and plain-clothes detectives mingling with the crowd.