Hundreds of thousands of people join longer march from old city to Bardo Museum, scene of attack in which 22 people were killed

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

François Hollande joined scores of other politicians and dignitaries from the Middle East, Africa and Europe to march alongside the Tunisian president, Beji Caid Essebsi, to the Bardo Museum in Tunis in response to an attack there 11 days ago in which 21 foreign tourists and one policeman were killed.

The march was organised by the Tunisian government to rally international support for the country and to raise the morale of Tunisians increasingly concerned by the spectre of extremist violence.



Hundreds of thousands of people joined a longer march to the museum from the old city of Tunis, in echoes of the mass march in Paris following the Charlie Hebdo attacks this year.

“I came here today to challenge terrorism, to show the world that what happened at Bardo does not represent Tunisia,” said one protester, Samia Boukari, 32.



Streets were bedecked with Tunisian flags and banners proclaiming “Le monde est Bardo” (The world is with Bardo).

The attack on the museum on 18 March ended with the two gunmen shot dead by police. On Sunday the interior ministry said the leader of the group that organised the attack had been killed by the national guard in clashes late on Saturday.

Arriving at the entrance to the museum alongside Hollande, Caid Essebsi said: “Tunisians proved today they are not afraid of terrorism. When Tunisia is targeted, all Tunisians stand as one.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest François Hollande, right, listens to a speech by the Tunisian president, Beji Caid Essebsi, in Tunis. Photograph: Emmanuel Dunand/pool/AP

He thanked the French president, who he said had been the first to offer condolences after the attack, and other international politicians who had joined the march, including the Polish president, Bronislaw Komorowski; Matteo Renzi, the Italian prime minister; Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority; and Algeria’s prime minister, Abdelmalek Sellal.

In sometimes chaotic scenes, the visiting dignitaries laid floral wreaths at a plaque bearing the names of all who died. Army trumpeteers played a lament for the victims.

It was Hollande’s second visit to Tunisia since the country’s 2011 revolution. Four of the museum attack victims were French.

France is seeking to rebuild the relationship with its former colony after attracting criticism for its endorsement of the regime of Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali even as the revolution against him gathered momentum. Hollande has pledged more security assistance for Tunisia as alarm grows about the spread of Isis in north Africa.

Caid Essebsi, a minister before the 2011 revolution, is founder of the centrist Nidaa Tounes party, now the largest party in government. He had promoted the march with television slots appealing for a large turnout to consolidate “national unity” in the face of terrorism.

The moderate Islamist party Ennahda, which has one minister and three junior ministers in the coalition government, also endorsed the march.

Officials said last week that the museum attack was organised by an Algerian-led jihadi group, Okba Ibn Nafaa, active in Tunisia’s western mountains. Islamic State, which now has a foothold across the country’s southern border in neighbouring Libya, claimed responsibility for it through social media outlets.

The interior ministry said the national guard had killed nine radicals including the leader of Okba Ibn Nafaa, Lokmane Abu Sakhr, in clashes in the south-western region of Gafsa late on Saturday.

Tunisia has detained 20 people suspected of involvement in the Bardo attack.

