French President Francois Hollande hugs a man (left) as he greets the families of the victims and survivors of the attacks. ---AFP
French President Francois Hollande hugs a man (left) as he greets the families of the victims and survivors of the attacks. ---AFP
French President Francois Hollande and other dignitaries held a special ceremony Sunday to honour all those killed in Islamic extremist violence around Paris in 2015 — a year when the European way of life was targeted time and again with deadly consequences.
At least one attacker is at large, and France’s top security official acknowledged Sunday that authorities don’t know his whereabouts. The country is under a state of emergency after attacks November 13, and a police station was attacked Thursday by a man whose background is still unclear.
Mr Hollande and Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo unveiled a plaque Sund-ay in memory of victims targeted at newspaper Charlie Hebdo, a kosher market, a rock concert, cafes, a stadium and elsewhere. The ceremony took place at Place de la Republique, a plaza that has become a symbol of Parisians’ solidarity since the attacks, which began January 7, 2015.
Several thousand people gathered in a low-key ceremony to mark a year since a million and half citizens thronged the French capital in a show of unity following jihadist attacks on satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and a Jewish supermarket. People attending the event in the Place de la Republique were searched by armed police before standing around a simple stage and a monument covered in the red, white and blue French flag.
French rocker and national icon Johnny Hallyday joined the Army choir in a special, sombre musical performance. The violence left some 150 victims dead, and several attackers were also killed. Interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve called for national unity and insisted the government is doing all it can to protect France.
The one-year anniversary on Thursday of the Charlie Hebdo shootings was overshadowed when a man was shot dead by the police as he approached a police station in northern Paris wielding a meat cleaver and wearing what turned out to be a fake explosives vest.
The man, believed to be a Tunisian called Tarek Belgacem, shouted “Allahu Akbar” (God is great) before trying to attack an officer at the entrance of the police station in the ethnically-mixed Goutte d’Or district. He was carrying a handwritten letter claiming he was acting in the name of ISIS. The German police confirmed late Saturday that he had been living in an asylum seekers’ shelter in Germany. Meanwhile, Mr Hollande made an unannounced visit to the main mosque in Paris on Sunday, a year after jihadist attacks in the French capital. “The President had a short conversation and a moment of friendship and fraternity over a cup of tea,” a French presidency official said.
Mosques across Fra-nce opened their doors to the public this weekend in a bid by the Muslim community to build bridges following a series of jihadist attacks that rocked France in 2015.
