A week later, Parisians still in shock over scope of attack

PARIS — Cold rain extinguished the flickering candles and drenched the packets of flowers outside the Paris attacks sites today (Nov 20), but people came anyway — to pay tribute, to mourn, to reflect on their city’s losses one week later.

With France under a three-month state of emergency, most demonstrations and large gatherings have been banned in Paris since the Nov 13 attacks that shattered a joyful night out. A gathering planned for today at France’s oldest mosque to show inter-community solidarity was cancelled because of security fears.

But Parisians spontaneously came together outside the restaurants, cafes and concert hall hit in the attacks — as they have all week — to leave flowers, light candles or hold quiet vigils.

“I’m still reeling, because these are the neighbourhoods where we young people go out a lot, places we know well,” student Sophie Garcon said as she looked at tributes left outside the Le Carillon bar.

More than a dozen people died when gunmen sprayed automatic weapons fire at the bar and at the Le Petit Cambodge restaurant across the street.

In all, 129 people died and more than 350 were injured when gunmen and suicide bombers attacked cafes and restaurants in Paris and the national soccer stadium. The attacks, claimed by the Islamic State group, were the deadliest violence in Paris since World War II and have left the city profoundly shaken.

Hundreds of French soldiers have joined thousands of police to patrol streets, stations and tourist sites like the Eiffel Tower.

“There’s a feeling of insecurity, even though there are police everywhere,” Garcon said. “In France, we have a tendency to think that we’re not a country at war because there’s not a war on our territory. But France is at war elsewhere in the world ... and now it’s here, in the city of Paris.”

The city’s mood was subdued today, the weather wet and grim. But French artists and cultural figures urged people to respond to the tragedy with an outpouring of “noise and light”.

Dozens of artists, writers, musicians and other cultural figures, including singer Charles Aznavour, journalist Anne Sinclair and former French Culture Minister Jack Lang, urged people to turn on their lights, light candles and play music exactly at 9:20pm (4:20am, Singapore time) the time the attacks began on Nov 13.

In a letter published by Huffington Post, they said the killers’ attack on “culture and freedom” should unite people of all races, faiths and backgrounds. They hoped the gesture would show “that culture will continue to shine out and to burnish the light of hope and fraternity”. AP