Around me, on the streets of Paris, the French anthem was being sung spontaneously. Two million people alternated with cries of  "Charlie" and "Freedom". But freedom of expression, so strongly embodied by the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, which was attacked by Islamist gunment last week, was only one of the values that we were defending. What we had come to stand for was larger, it was the very idea of France.

Similar scenes were playing out in other cities and villages across France, where four million people came out to pay a tribute to the 17 men and women who lost their lives in the horrific attacks against Charlie Hebdo and against a kosher supermarket. The last time a crowd so large thronged the streets of Paris was for the funeral of the novellist Victor Hugo, well remembered abroad for Les Miserables. That was 130 years ago.

The English-speaking media called the rally the "Unity March" While it aptly describes the general intention, it is not a translation of the French official term, which is "rassemblement républicain", Republican gathering. The immense majority of French citizens are very attached to the Republic and the values it inherited mostly from the 1789 Revolution. These values are summed up in the official moto "Liberté, égalité, fraternité". Three words meaning freedom, equality and brotherhood, and which are inscribed on all public buildings and written on all official documents. Secularism, albeit of a different kind from the one practiced in India, is the fourth pillar of the Republican edifice. The crowds all over France had gathered in the name of these principles.

'This is our Republic'

Although generally unhappy about providing a fantastic photo-op to almost 50 heads of states and governments, including Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, many men and women around me kept saying, "This is our rally, the Republic is us, not them."  On the frontpage of its Monday issue, the daily Libération printed, in front a photo of the rally, the words "We are a people. " And, in a rare moment of consensus, the crowds clapped for the police force, a gesture to honour the deaths of three officers in the past week. This is such an unusual expression of gratitude that the police tweeted about their surprise.

References to the Enlightement and to Voltaire, the anti-conformist XVIIIth century philospher, were everywhere. His portrait had been printed on big posters with the words "Je Suis Charlie", I am Charlie. Many people had written some of his famous quotes in favour of free speech and against fanatacism on their coats and on signs they were holding. A few were even brandishing his Treatise on Tolerance written in 1763.

Every participant seemed to be aware of how exceptional the rally was. One of the residents of a building located between the Voltaire square and the Nation square, two important landmarks with highly symbolic names, had put up a sign outside the window. It read: "Look at yourselves: today is a historic day!"

Ordinary French people, unlike most Americans and Indians, generally harbour a deep mistrust for expressions of nationalism. Over the past decade, the national anthem and the tricolour flag had largely been hijacked by the Front National, a racist right-wing party that came first in France in the 2014 elections for the European Parliament with a whooping 24.86% of votes. On the streets of France on Sunday, the people started reclaiming its national symbols.

A solemn mood

 The atmosphere was not one of grief but nonetheless solemn, in spite of the caricatures and puns featured prominently on the signs and placards. The slogan "Je suis Charlie" could be seen everywhere, along with declarations like "I am Ahmed", the Muslim police officer who died during the Charlie Hebdo attack, "I am Muslim", "I am Jewish", "I am Black" and "I am a cop." There is hope that these positive reaffirmations of diversity will translate in an actual reflection, beyond the emotion of the rally, about Islamophobia, anti-Semiticism and racism, which, many feel, have become acceptable in the country.

Now that four million people have grieved for the dead and celebrated their fundamental national principles together, questions will inevitable be raised about the broken social contract that French society is built upon, about the integrative model of immigration, the radicalisation of a fraction of the youth and the blatant discrimination against visible minorities. These questions have never been more pressing and will need to be addressed with honesty. Hopefully some of the emotion shared in Sunday in what has been termed "a national communion" will linger on without justifying any attempts at curtailing of freedoms in the name of security.

On my way back home, among the many families who had joined the rally, I noticed a young teenage girl holding a sign. On it, she had written: "Later, I'll be a journalist." Whether she goes through with this idea or not, it seems a new generation of politically aware youth is in the wings. And, ça fait du bien. It feels good.