Paris attacks: Jewish and French
By Patrick Jackson
BBC News, Paris
Raphael and Gabriel are both students, both 23 and both French Jews - like many of the victims of last week's attacks in Paris.
The two men shared their thoughts in a conversation I tweeted from a cafe on Place de la Republique, after Sunday's historic rally.
Neither wished to be identified - Gabriel out of personal safety concerns and Raphael for reasons of privacy.
Question: What did you do on Sunday?
Raphael: I spent the whole day at the march and rally, from 15:00 to 18:00.
Gabriel: I also spent the day at the rally, with family, neighbours and friends.
Q: What is your lasting impression of the demonstration in Paris?
Gabriel: Probably the feeling of unity, peace and respect from everyone.
Raphael: I am really proud of the face French people showed the world.
Q: Do you think French people could have responded any better to the horrible events of last week?
Raphael: It couldn't have been better! Today was an emotional one for me but in a good way. It eased the pain, I think.
Gabriel: I felt good because it was not about politics, it was about sending a message and everyone and anyone was there.
Q: What for you is the best thing about France?
Raphael: The diversity and the culture.
Gabriel: Our values. Liberty, equality and fraternity is written on the wall of every school here.
Q: Do you feel safe being French Jews?
Raphael: Yes.
Gabriel: That depends. We are protected by the institutions and we are given greater protection than other religions. So for example, there are cops in front of synagogues at all times. Hate crimes against Jews are rising and are disproportionate to the size of the community.
Name-calling
Q: Would you feel comfortable about wearing the skullcap inParis?
Gabriel: Not everywhere. You could get assaulted or insulted.
Raphael: They could call you names, like "dirty Jew", or threaten you.
Gabriel: But it's not everywhere in Paris. It happens but it's not in every neighbourhood.
Raphael: It's important to say that there are low-income neighbourhoods in Paris where Jews are safe.
Q: Do you think Friday's deadly attack on French Jews got enough media attention?
Raphael: Yes, they spoke a lot about it. President Hollande made clear in his speech on Friday that it was a hate crime against Jews.
Gabriel: I agree with that. There are placards everywhere which say "I am a Jew".
Q: Last year there was record migration of French Jews to Israel. Can you ever see yourself joining them?
Gabriel: Only if France loses the values we talked about earlier.
Raphael: I will never go to Israel other than as a tourist. I don't feel linked in any way to the state of Israel. I strongly disapprove of the Israeli government's policy towards the Palestinians. If I have to emigrate it will not be to Israel.
Q: Have the attacks of this week changed your attitude towards your Muslim countrymen?
Raphael: Not at all. The images of the Muslim cop being gunned down were heartbreaking and the attitude a lot of Muslims took is one reason I am so proud of my country. If anything has changed, it is change for the better.
Gabriel: I don't feel the attackers were Muslim at all so what they did can't change what I feel about Muslims.
Raphael: Just two concerns. I fear these attacks may help Marine Le Pen and I don't want a French Patriot Act.
France divided despite uplifting rallies
By Hugh Schofield
BBC News, Paris
While the rally in Paris reflects the determination of its inhabitants to bounce back from the horror of the recent attacks, deep divisions of French society cannot be glossed over easily.
The urge to demonstrate is the urge for mutual reassurance.
When terrible things happen, first we rush for shelter. Then we re-emerge to show each other that we are all still alive.
It is probably what cavemen did when the sabre-toothed tigers passed by.
This week in Paris, many people felt the instinct to hasten home. Murder stalked the streets.
At one point on Thursday we heard that the Kouachi brothers were driving back to town. There were police marksmen at the city gates.
Something primal said: Stay with your loved ones.
But then it was over. And now the urge is to come back on to the streets and to reclaim the land.
That is what it has felt like through the extraordinary scenes of Sunday.
People have made the comparison with the Liberation demonstrations in 1944, and it is apt.
It is apt not just in terms of numbers, but also in how at that moment too French men and women were putting down a marker: France is ours.
But people demonstrate also because they are afraid.
People demonstrate for causes that they feel are under threat. Demonstrating reveals our insecurity.
We demonstrate because we want the hope that comes from knowing there are others who feel as we do.
In France, national unity was the theme of Sunday's monster rally.
But by the logic of demonstrations, national unity is therefore not nearly as secure as the outpouring of mass emotion would tend to suggest.
'Je suis Kouachi'
If you want a sobering counterblast to the dominant mood, have a look at the "Je ne suis pas Charlie" Facebook page. It has received more than 21,000 likes in the last few days.
The mainly Muslim French people who have given a thumbs-up to the page are not supporters of violence. The vast majority have no truck with the Kouachis and Coulibaly.
But they also make clear they will not take part in a national movement that backs people who insulted the Prophet Muhammad.
Over and again they express their anger at what they see as double standards:
Why so much fuss over 17 dead when thousands have died in Gaza and Syria?
Why is it all right for Charlie Hebdo to mock Islam when the controversial comic Dieudonne M'bala M'bala is prosecuted for mocking Jews? Why is one defined as "inciting hatred" and not the other?
Then there are the schools in the high-immigration banlieues where the minute's silence on Thursday in memory of the Charlie Hebdo victims was interrupted by pupils or not observed at all.
France-Info - the national news radio station that normally plays down dissent in the banlieues - ran an extensive report on it, with quotes from distressed teachers.
And if you really want to be shocked, there is a "Je suis Kouachi" hashtag which was briefly trending on Twitter on Saturday.
All of which only goes to prove that there are many French men and women who feel their primary attachment is to Islam, not to the Enlightenment values of post-18th Century Europe.
They feel a constant sense of humiliation, and where they can, they strike back. Normally in petty acts of insubordination. But sometimes in terror.
So France is not united, and the danger is real.
But that is why demonstrations matter. People take part because they work. Seeing such vast numbers of people - of all faiths and backgrounds - united behind a single idea was indeed a moving and uplifting experience.
At the end of a horrid week, morale is back. For a time at least, we are reassured.