Nadine Williams

Terrorists take terrible human toll in Paris

Paris’s iconic Eiffel Tower

Paris, the City of Light, has been plunged into darkness, fear and grief by a series of terrorist attacks by gunmen and suicide bombers, which have left 129 dead and 352 injured – 99 critically.

In the wake of the shocking news which gripped the world this morning, comes the realisation that it was naive  to think that the massacre earlier this year of journalists at the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris, was a once-only attack.  Instead Black Friday ushers in a new terrorist modus operandi reflected in the discovery that at least 3 of the murderous gang of 8, came into Europe via Greece registering within the flood of refugees. What is so frightening is that the Black Friday murderers intended to show that no one venue was safe from terrorism in Paris.  They murdered  Parisians indiscriminately in their beloved cafés, restaurants, and bars and, particularly, the creative heart of Paris – the concert hall and its beloved national sporting  venue, the football stadium.  These are the magnets for Parisians as they enjoy their lovely lifestyles in what has always been known as the City of Lovers. Now so many deaths of Parisians of all ages, seems to fulfil a forecast in March this year by Islamic State that the streets of Paris would be filled with the dead.  News coverage of the carnage – lineups of ambulances and paramedics carrying sheets of alfoil for the injured and others bearing body bags of the dead has cast a pall of grief over the city.  French president, Francois Hollande has declared the terrorist attacks as “an act of War”. He has declared a state of emergency and a three-day period of mourning. All schools and universities have been closed. The Eiffel Tower, the iconic symbol of France, has been closed indefinitely.

France has closed its borders in a vain bid to stop any repeat attacks. But, alarming questions need to be addressed. How could such a wide-spread simultaneous terrorist exercise be mounted so successfully without France’s sophisticated surveillance and security system detecting a whisper of “chatter’’.

At just the moment that we are led to believe perhaps the roll-back of Islamic State has begun in Syria and Iraq through a successful campaign to re-claim one of its strongholds, its leaders seem to have moved the goalposts, mounting a terror war on the world – carrying out its merciless acts in our own Western backyard – in the most beautiful city in the world.

Coat of Arms of Paris at Sacre Coeur

It is at catastrophic events in history that Paris citizens should cling to the 15th century message of the city’s Coat of Arms (seen here at Montmartre) which means “Paris is tossed by the waves, but she is not sunk”. However, today, we must heed the message of social media – Nous sommes Paris and pray for Paris and its citizens.

There is hope that the imminent G20 meeting of the world leaders in Turkey will devise a miraculous solution to the threat to world peace posed by the growing numbers of radicalised young Muslims in western society.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was right when he said we must stand up for our freedom and our basic right to feel safe in our community. Meanwhile, the world weeps as one with the French innocents killed on Black Friday – Vendredi noir.

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