PARIS 11 Nov (ANA) - French President Emmanuel Macron has urged world leaders marking the centenary of the World War One Armistice to reject nationalism.

 

Addressing about 70 leaders in Paris - including US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin - he called on them to "fight for peace".

 

"Let us build our hopes rather than playing our fears against each other," he said.

 

Many other events have been taking place around the world.

 

Some 9.7 million soldiers and 10 million civilians died in World War One, which lasted from 1914 to 1918.

 

Mr Macron and dignitaries marched to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, a memorial to France's fallen under the Arc de Triomphe, in the rain under black umbrellas as church bells tolled through the city.

 

In a speech lasting nearly 20 minutes, the French leader urged his fellow leaders not to forget the lessons of the past.

 

"Ruining this hope with a fascination for withdrawal, violence or domination would be a mistake for which future generations would rightly find us responsible," he added.

 

He described nationalism as a "betrayal of patriotism".

 

The service ended with the bugle call that was played at 11:00 on 11 November 1918 to signal the end of hostilities on the Western Front.

 

Just before the leaders assembled, a topless female protester with the words "fake peacemaker" written on her chest came within a few metres of Mr Trump's motorcade before being apprehended.

 

Sunday afternoon will see Mr Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel attend a peace conference - the Paris Peace Forum - with leaders including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

 

On Saturday, Mr Macron and Mrs Merkel visited the town of Compiègne in northern France. They signed a book of remembrance in a railway carriage identical to the one in which the 1918 Armistice was sealed.(ANA)

FA/ANA/11 November 2018----