About a hundred people took part in a walk in Paris in support of a campaign to free French-Colombian Ingrid Betancourt, now held for 63 months by Farc.

Organised by her support committee, the walk started after 6 o’clock in the evening from the front of Notre Dame Cathedral and finished in front of City hall, a kilometre away.

Several celebrities attended among them singer Yves Duteil, director Robert Hossein,comedian Rafael Mezrahi and former hostage held in Iraq, Florence Aubenas.

On a platform in front of the huge portrait of Ingrid Betancourt, a member of the support committee declared “Citizens have the power to get things moving in the (hostage) situation in Colombia”.

Ingrid Betancourt’s son told Reuters: “Mr Sarkozy’s government is determined to have my mother freed, there is a real political will to do this”.

“We are at a turning point, there is hope of freeing the 3000 hostages and my mother”, he added. The marchers insisted that Ingrid Betancourt would not be freed by means of a military operation.

Anne Hidalgo, socialist Deputy-Mayor of Paris who was representing Bertrand Delanoe, said “we have a duty to support”. “We are determined”, she continued, recalling that Ingrid Betancourt had been made an Honorary Citizen of the city of Paris.

Fabrice Deloye, Ingrid Betancourt’s former husband, had a message for Colombian President AlvarUribe asking him “to have the courage to make a significant gesture so that Farc understand that the situation can have a favourable outcome”.

A Colombian policeman who escaped recently form a Farc camp stated in the media recently that Ingrid was not being given special treatment and was “the greatest enemy” of the Colombian rebel group.

Nicolas Sarkozy met Ingrid Betancourt’s family last Friday.

Tuesday, he told a special envoy of the Colombian President that France was opposed to any military effort to free the hostage. Thursday last, he had already discussed by phone with Alvaro Uribe the fate of the former Green party candidate in the Colombian presidential elections.

The following day, Alvaro Uribe ordered the army to free the French-Colombian hostage despite opposition from Paris to any military rescue. Saturday, the Colombian president promised to consider the French position.