Manif dans le Marais

A major thoroughfare runs between the Arc de Triomphe and Place de la Bastille, passing directly in front of the Presidential palace as it changes from the Champs d'Elysee to rue Rivoli.

On Friday, 18 March 2005, the road stretched across a great divide. On the Champs side, Russian President Vladamir Putin dined with French President Jacques Chirac.




In the streets of Le Marais, Chechen refugees marched to protest the assassination - just one week previously - of their own leader, Aslan Maskadov.

"Liberty. Equality. Fraternity." said one refugee. "I am not foolish enough to believe that I will find all of that here. But it is really something to see it displayed - everywhere, everywhere, everywhere - as an ideal. Here, at least I am free to wave my flag in the street."