The sun shone in Paris yesterday. When it rose above the rooftops to cast warmth along the banks of the Canal Saint-Martin, dozens of Parisians were already there, waiting for it. A young man in Lycra and trainers pounded the pavement as his iPod blared dance music, a group of women stood outside a café to smoke and drink espresso and a thirty something couple linked arms, the woman eating the last of a croissant as she walked."Salut!" a man shouted, spotting a neighbour, "Ça va?"Just like a normal Sunday and yet unlike any this city has ever experienced. These were small gestures, but very human ones.Such everyday tasks were carried out without any of the usual jollity: nobody laughed or smiled. Most looked down at the ground or stared into middle distance, serious about doing whatever it is they usually do.The happenstance of a lazy Sunday morning had been replaced by thousands of deliberate acts of defiance.As a banner outside one of the restaurants targeted in Friday night's attacks put it: "Against extremism, Paris is united in life."In the city centre, an 80-year-old woman called Marie-Eve ordered "my regular petit déjeuner" at a cafe with her husband as they had done most weekends for the last 30 years. "I have no fear," said the retired teacher, with a hint of a Gallic shrug. "Not a bit. I wandered around town all day yesterday."Like thousands of her countrymen, she ignored advice to stay indoors."Otherwise it means they [the terrorists] are the masters and we just lie down before them," she said. "We have to say: 'You've done that, but we will win.' We have to."Nearby, 60-year-old Corinne Bolnes, who has lived here since 1975, got ready for her Sunday- morning run. "Life doesn't stop. We must resist. We have to. It is not a normal day so we have to act like it is a normal day."A man walking his Jack Russells said carrying on was about seeking comfort in the humdrum.In a city on edge, every choice was weighed. Across the canal, Eric Lafontaine, an architect livinga street away from two restaurants targeted, picked out his clothes with extra care."Everlast" the logo on his sweater declared as he wheeled a trolley to shop for vegetables."I don't want fear to grip me," he said. "If I think about it, I would stay still so I block it out."In the Place de la Republique, where the rally for unity began in the wake of January's attack on the Charlie Hebdo magazine, graffiti declaring "Je suis Charlie" is still visible. Next to it, fresher writing adds: "Je suis Paris."Its focal point, the bronze statue of Marianne, embodies the Republic's values of fraternité, egalité and liberté. More than 100 Parisians stood at its foot , cherishing the last of those founding principles.A collective panic last night in several Paris neighbourhoods, including Place de la Republique, was a false alarm, according to officials. One of the officials said the crowd in the square apparently panicked after hearing firecrackers...