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World leaders mark Armistice Day in Paris

OVER 60 heads of state and government gathered at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Paris today to mark 100 years since the armistice which ended the first world war.

US President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel were among leaders addressed by French President Emmanuel Macron, who turned his speech into an attack on nationalism, which he said was responsible for the conflict.

“By saying ‘our interests first and never mind the others,’ you stamp out the most precious thing a nation has, its moral values,” he argued in a seeming swipe at Mr Trump’s “America First” slogan, and added: “The old demons are rising again.”

Mr Macron has himself faced criticism over his attitude to Armistice Day — with the French left and the country’s Jewish community expressing anger when he said it was right to honour Marshal Petain as a “great soldier” of World War I.

Petain later led the collaborationist Vichy regime and was sentenced to death after the defeat of Hitler for having authorised the round-up of French Jews and their deportation to nazi death camps.

Mr Macron also used the build-up to commemorations to renew pushing for a European army to “protect ourselves when it comes to China, Russia and even the United States,” which prompted an angry reaction from Mr Trump.

The armistice commemorations, which saw children read out letters from soldiers and civilians written 100 years ago expressing their reactions to peace after four years of brutal war, were followed by a “peace forum” hosted by Mr Macron, although the US president declined to attend. 

The French leader faced renewed accusations of hypocrisy over his call for leaders to “fight for peace” when he recently rejected demands that France stop selling arms to Saudi Arabia, which is waging a war on Yemen that has killed upwards of 50,000 people, saying that opposing weapons sales was “demagoguery.” 

Though the biggest commemoration took place in Paris as France was the main battlefield of the western front, remembrance services were held across the globe, with ceremonies in India, Australia, New Zealand and many other countries whose soldiers were sent to fight on behalf of European powers.

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