Paris Terror – Who's Next
When I think of Paris I think of Valerie Gauriat, now the International Affairs reporter for Euronews. Decades back she was my classmate at university in London, who sang Summertime like I imaged Edith Piaf would. It was Valerie who lent me her apartment near a train line in London one Christmas when I was a broke student.
It was at Valerie’s parents’ home in Paris that I went to the best party ever—wine, exuberance, existentialism, endless possibility. Imagine my joy, then, last week, when she rang to say she was shooting for Euronews, that she could meet another friend and myself. After a late dinner at a Turkish restaurant, a cigarette, we waved goodbye somewhat misty eyed.
Days later, on November 13, Paris terror: mass shootings, suicide bombings, hostage taking in Paris, which killed 120 people and injured 352. The following is Valerie’s eyewitness report of that night in Paris:
“Do you have a light? I had just been dining out with my parents, and lingered behind them as they went home, to smoke a cigarette. A phone rang. And another. A third: 18 dead at the Bataclan. Hostages. Shootout. Hell had broken loose on a quiet and unusually warm November evening. Is it true? It was, alas, so true, and only the beginning. I rushed to my parents’ house. The night was short, yet desperately endless, as the gruesome news unravelled.
“The fumes of the hours of nightmare hang over Paris the next morning like lead. The emblems of the French capital lonely in the neighbourhoods of the Rive Droite. Eiffel tower: closed. Trocadero, Champs Elysées, Place de la Concorde: deserted. Soldiers, standing guard, in full gear, in front of the National Assembly. The police. State of emergency.
Gravity in everyone’s eyes. “The city shivered, despite warmth in the air. The usually thriving weekend food markets was closed down. Canopies, perched on their high, skinny wooden legs hang miserably over emptiness. Skeletons of the life we so much take for granted. Life at a standstill. They killed our youths. They killed our joy. They fired their wild demented rage at all the values that they so loathe, and we so love. We will not yield to fear, we will not yield to hatred, gently swept through the crying city. We will not let them win. Soldiers, police, rifles.
“‘Stand together’, went the quiet song, mingling with the shrieks of sirens, everywhere. Crowds queuing to donate blood. Blood for blood. Love for hate. Paris is an open wound. A message on my phone. A Lebanese friend. ‘After Lebanon, France, my second country is bleeding, and so is my heart.’ Yes, it is not just about us.
“People queuing at hospitals and hastily set up crisis cells. They are seeking loved ones. All victims have not been yet identified. The uncertainty is unbearable for those who stagger wearily in front of the places where they know they might be told what they do not want to hear. Doctors and rescue teams work relentlessly. Silent heroes of the tragedy, they have seen the unspeakable.
“Bataclan, Petit Cambodge, Carillon: flowers and candles piling up behind the police cordons. Despite recommendations for people not to gather, place de la Republique attracts Parisians like a magnet. Marianne wears a gown of flowers; hundreds of small flames alight, words of tribute and sorrow, at her feet. The world sends its compassion, lighting its monuments in Blue, White and Red. Another spews hate on social media. Monday. School has resumed.
We go to the Lycée Voltaire, a few blocks away from the scenes of the attacks. A mixed, bustling neighbourhood. They cried after the minute of silence for their friends who died. They are eighteen.
“We inherit from your generation, a world of chaos, war and destruction, they tell us. ‘Is it worth having children?’ asks Clara.
“‘There is no place left in the world that is safe anymore,’ answers Sacha. ‘We have to go on and live our lives. We will go to the concert again. And again.’ But fear has spread its poison. A slamming door, a firecracker, a fallen table; groups of shrieking, crying people spill onto the streets in panic. False alerts. Special forces reassure them. They worry there are too many people outside, will we be able to cope if things go wrong?
“The manhunt. The long wait. Barbes, a mixed neighbourhood north of Paris. Rachid is tired and wary. The fear of stigma. “Muslims must speak out! We cannot let them kill in our name! Then: Close the borders! Too many migrants! The Syrian passport!
A young man, blindfold with a keffieh, stands at Place de la Republique, bearing a sign: “I am a Muslim. Some say I’m a terrorist. I trust you. Do you trust me? So give me a hug.” One after the other, they do.
Tears on the blindfold. “They shot at our youth, they shot at our future, they shot at our diversity, and they shot at all races, creeds and religions. They want to divide us. They want to sow the seeds of hatred in the minds of our youths, enroll them.
‘We will not allow it,’ say Stéphane, Djamila Anne, Nick, Asta, Precilia, Ciprian. Say 129 voices that roar in the heart of Paris.
“Wednesday 3 am: I am at place de la République, for an interview with an American TV network amidst silhouettes of youths, rekindling the fragile flames of the candles. Couples huddled together, staring at broken dreams. A taxi ride back home through the city. The shriek of sirens fades into the night. The phone rings. It has started again!
Explosions and gunshots at Saint Denis! Quick. I get up, get dressed, and find a cameraman. Soon the world is pointing its lenses at the police cordons. Behind the fence of tripods and microphones, residents are stunned. The police reassure us. The raid is over. Questions. How did these people get here? What is Europe doing? What is the world doing? In Syria, in Iraq, in Libya, in Afghanistan? Oh, did you hear? A market blew up in Nigeria.
The world’s tears have converged in Paris. Identified. The ringleader is dead. My heart beats slower. For the believers, Alhumdoulilah. Mazeltov. Thank God. Dieu merci, whoever that is. Who’s next?”