Crowd At Paris Unity Rally Sings John Lennon's 'Imagine'

In 1980, John Lennon explained the meaning behind his song “Imagine.” Speaking with Playboy reporter David Sheff, the former Beatle said, “‘Imagine’ is saying that [if] you can imagine a world at peace … then it can be true.”

More than three decades later, Lennon’s song unified a crowd at a Paris rally this Sunday, held in the days after extremist attacks claimed the lives of 17 people. The crowd, participating in a national unity march that saw millions around the country flooding the streets to show their support, raised their voices as one to sing along to the inspiring song.

YouTuber Lâm Hua wrote that his neighbor decided to open the windows of her home, located near the Paris march, to play music for the crowd gathered. When “Imagine” came on, many attendees spontaneously joined in -- singing, clapping and cheering.

“You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one,” the crowd sang. “I hope someday you'll join us, and the world will live as one.”

(Watch the uplifting video above.)

Last Wednesday, brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi are suspected of storming the Paris newsroom of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, killing 12 people. In the two days that followed, a man named Amedy Coulibaly, believed to have ties with Cherif Kouachi, is suspected of killing a policewoman on the outskirts of Paris and four people inside a kosher grocery store. Coulibaly and both Kouachi brothers were killed by French police Jan. 9.

At the government-sponsored rally on Sunday, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls called for French unity in the wake of the national tragedy. “We are all Charlie, we are all police, we are all Jews of France," he declared.

H/T Reddit