World leaders gathered in Paris on Sunday to mark 100 years since the end of World War I, with French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and UN chief Antonio Guterres each warning that rising nationalism again poses a threat to peace.
US President Donald Trump — who prides himself on being called a nationalist — was among around 70 leaders to attend a solemn ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe in the driving rain.
But neither he nor Russian President Vladimir Putin joined other leaders in a symbolic walk up the Champs-Elysees to the monument.
Three topless protesters from radical feminist movement Femen were arrested trying to reach Trump's motorcade, although French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said his security had “in no way been threatened”.
Paris, the site of repeated militant attacks since 2015, had mobilised some 10,000 police for an event also attended by Canada's Justin Trudeau, Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu and Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
After church bells rang out across France at 11.00 am — exactly a century after the signing of the Armistice — leaders gathered for a ceremony which included a cello performance and readings from letters written by World War I soldiers.
Macron delivered a stinging indictment of nationalism in a 20-minute speech and called on leaders to learn the lessons of the past.