Hollande to preside over the official ceremony in memory of the 130 victims of the November 13th attacks in Paris …
Two weeks after the attacks in Paris of November 13th, in which 130 died and 352 wounded in Paris and Saint-Denis, a national tribute ceremony chaired by François Hollande will be held today in Paris, in the courtyard of the Hotel National des Invalides , at 10.30am. Three things about the events today :
1. A “sober” program
The ceremony is to be “sober” will begin with military honors. Then the names of victims will be read. The Head of State then deliver a speech. “Through his tribute to the victims, it also will pay tribute to a generation”, the Bataclan and terraces of the Eastern cafes Paris strafed by the terrorists where the average age was 35 years, said the entourage Francois Hollande.
Finally, the ceremony will end with a Marseillaise.
2. A large audience
Relatives of the 130 victims were invited as well as 352 injured. Among these, those whose health condition permits will travel. All will be installed in a long rostrum erected in the courtyard of ‘Cour d’honneur of Les Invalides’.
Representatives of security and rescue forces mobilized to the scene of the terrorist attacks 13 the November were also invited. In addition, “all state authorities under the Protocol of the Republic, the diplomatic corps and all political party leaders” will be present, according to the presidency.
In all, “more than a thousand people will be present at the Les Invalides,” said last Wednesday, by government spokesman Stephane Le Foll. As “everybody can not come to the Les Invalides,” Hollande has said at the Council of Ministers “that every French person may also participate with the possibility of displaying Tricolore flags, the blue, white and red flag of France and the national colours of the country.”
3. victims’ families boycotted the ceremony
If “the vast majority” of families of victims and survivors of the attacks will attend the event, according to the Elysee, the relatives have publicly announced they will boycott the ceremony. Emmanuelle Prévost, the sister of Francis Xavier Prévost, one of 90 people killed at the Bataclan, Monday issued a boycott of the event. On Wednesday, the father of Aurélie de Peretti, 33, shot in the Parisian concert hall, also announced that he would not make if the national tribute.
The ceremony will be filmed by the cameras of the Ministry of Defence and the images will be broadcast by several TV channels.
