#ParisAttacks: French President Francois Hollande Makes Statement, “It is a horror…”

#ParisAttacks: French President Francois Hollande Makes Statement, “It is a horror…”

#ParisAttacks: French President Francois Hollande Makes Statement, “It is a horror…”

On a day like this, and in the midst of a tragedy of such magnitude, we look around and wonder what has happened to humanity. The sorrow is unfathomable, and we desperately grasp for a reason why something like this happens – why human beings would dedicate their lives to acting on pure hatred.

I can’t imagine what the people of France are going through, nor what they’ll face in the days ahead. In the midst of the tragedy, the French President, Francois Hollande, made a statement concerning today’s horrific terrorist attacks.

“My dear compatriots,

As I speak, terrorist attacks of unprecedented proportions are underway in the Paris area. There are dozens killed, there are many injured. It is a horror.

We have, on my decision, mobilized all forces possible to neutralize the terrorists and make all concerned areas safe. I have also asked for military reinforcements. They are currently in the Paris area, to ensure that no new attack can take place. I have also called a cabinet meeting that will be held in a few minutes.

Two decisions will be taken: a state of emergency will be declared, which means that some places will be closed, traffic may be banned , and there will also be searches which may be decided throughout Ile de France (greater Paris). The state of emergency will be proclaimed throughout the territory (of France).

The second decision I have made is to close the borders. We must ensure that no one enters to commit any crimes and that those who have committed the crimes that we have unfortunately seen can also be arrested if they should leave the territory.

This is a terrible ordeal which once again assails us. We know where it comes from, who these criminals are, who these terrorists are.

In these difficult moments, we must – and I’m thinking of the many victims, their families and the injured – show compassion and solidarity. But we must also show unity and calm.

Faced with terror, France must be strong, it must be great and the state authorities must be firm. We will be.

We must also call on everyone to be responsible.

What the terrorists want is to scare us and fill us with dread. There is indeed reason to be afraid. There is dread, but in the face of this dread, there is a nation that knows how to defend itself, that knows how to mobilize its forces and, once again, will defeat the terrorists.

French citizens, we have not completed the operations. There are still some that are extremely difficult. It’s at this moment that the security forces are staging an assault, especially in a place in Paris.

I ask you to keep all your trust in what we can do with the security forces to protect our nation from terrorist acts.

Long live the Republic and long live France.”

France is in a state of emergency.

“It is horror,” Hollande said in a brief statement on television, adding that a cabinet meeting had been called.

“A state of emergency will be declared,” he said. “The second measure will be the closure of national borders,” he added.

“We must ensure that no one comes in to commit any act whatsoever, and at the same time make sure that those who have committed these crimes should be arrested if they try to leave the country,” he added.

Shortly after the speech, Hollande’s office announced that he was canceling his participation at the G20 meeting in Turkey this weekend.

A mandatory curfew was instituted in Paris, the first since 1944, according to the Associated Press.

I read an article tonight, and I watched the comments flow in like waves, one after the other. We all have such varying opinions; What should have been done, what shouldn’t have been done, and who’s to blame. Some have begun to politicize the attacks, others are simply sitting stunned before their television as the news unfolds like an all too real nightmare. I understand the urge to vent frustrations, because they’re frustrations that I have, as well. I understand the anger – Not just anger over the choices of monsters, but over the thoughts of predictability.

With every new tragedy comes a new response time, the limitations on what is dignified are constantly being abused, and now we can’t even tell what those limitations are anymore. May we all pray that our first instinct in response to tragedy is not a political one, and if it has grown to that level for some of us, may we all pray for a renewing of our principles.

I urge everyone to put those thoughts aside for another day. Today we should simply mourn with France, we should make the choice to mourn in solidarity, to put aside the arguments, to cry with fellow human beings in the loss of their family members. Lives have been cut short, futures have abruptly been destroyed. There will be time for us to evaluate all that has transpired, there will be time for us to voice our opinions, but in my humble opinion that time is not today.

My deepest prayers to France, and the victims and their families will be in my heart in the coming days.

“God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” – C.S. Lewis

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2 Comments
  • Michelle says:

    Amen…this is a time to grieve with our fellow man.

  • Appalled By The World says:

    Keep those borders closed Hollende and start instituting border controls that keeps out the dreck of the ummah. That is one way to honor the victims of this atrocity-by reducing the number of the enemy in your own lands. And cleaning out those no-go zones that bred this outrage by sending in the troops and taking back your cities would be a good idea too. People mock France for a long time
    as being a weakling but this IS the same country that gave the world Charles Martel, a man who led the West to one of its most important victories in the war against Islamania long ago. Maybe now is the time for France to give the West a new Martel to show the way to containing the evil that springs from the Koran.

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