Still under state of emergency, Paris commemorates terror victims

Parisians held a ceremony to commemorate all victims of terror attacks, including those last year in Paris and in July in Nice, as the country remains under a state of emergency.

|
Michel Euler/AP
A photograph lays between flowers at the monument for the victims of terror attacks after a ceremony for victims of terrorism in Paris on Monday, Sept. 19, 2016.

Hundreds gathered in Paris on Monday to remember the lives lost in terror attacks over the past year. 

Attendees honored the memory of loved ones killed by Islamic extremists in Paris in November, Nice in July, and other attacks by reading aloud the names of the deceased. 

"Our country had never been attacked to this extent, with such destructive rage, with such barbarian cruelty. That's why it was so important for names, all names to be evoked," said President François Hollande, who was present at the ceremony. He spoke of the importance of adequate support, protection, and help for survivors and their families, and promised to reform the system of state indemnities for survivors. 

The president was also stressed that the threat of terror is not just in the past, as the country remains under a state of emergency. 

"We must ensure that the action taken is sustained, and here I am talking about all the measures taken to foresee attacks, deter them and stop them. It's a constant battle and will need still more resources than those I have called for," President Hollande said. 

The country has been under a state of emergency since Nov. 13, 2015, when militants linked to the Islamic State killed 130 people at several places in Paris. The government has since increased its hiring of police and placed thousands of police and soldiers on the streets to guard sensitive sites. But in the wake of an attack in Nice, France, in July that killed 86 people, many say that Hollande has not done enough to protect the public.

As Colette Davidson reported for The Christian Science Monitor in July: 

The Nice attack – which marks the third time a self-proclaimed or organized terrorist has struck French soil in 18 months – has become a tipping point for a public fed up with the government’s apparent inability to prevent attacks and what it sees as ineffective, insufficient security measures. The government’s calls for unity have largely fallen on deaf ears, coming as they have after months of deteriorating confidence and social unrest, including aviation, train, and garbage strikes, anti-police violence, and nationwide protests. 

Some attendees at Monday's ceremony called for unity among French people in recovering from the attacks. 

Yasmine Marzouk, a Muslim woman who survived the Nice attack but lost three family members that day, lamented the fact that "these criminals attacked that day a republican symbol, especially children who represent France's future, and families – symbols of tolerance, cohesion, and love."

Ms. Marzouk called on the president and his successors to prevent any further attacks, in the hope that "the flames of hatred stop fanning between the different religious communities. Lets' be one single community with our shared values and our differences," she said.

This report contains material from Reuters and the Associated Press. 

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Still under state of emergency, Paris commemorates terror victims
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2016/0919/Still-under-state-of-emergency-Paris-commemorates-terror-victims
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe