President Emmanuel Macron led national tributes on Wednesday to a police officer who switched places with a hostage during an attack on a supermarket in southern France last week and was killed by the Islamist militant gunman.

Tributes for Lieutenant-Colonel Arnaud Beltrame began with a minute's silence in gendarme barracks across France, before the gendarme's coffin was driven through Paris in heavy rain to Les Invalides, a former military hospital that is a monument to France's heroes.

Macron solemnly addressed the audience -- which included former presidents and prime ministers as well as Beltrame's family -- praising his values.

During the ceremony, Macron made Beltrame a commander of the Legion of honour, France's highest order of merit.

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