This Wednesday, a national tribute was paid to Arnaud Beltrame, the gendarme killed in Trèbes. Emmanuel Macron saluted his memory and called the French “a renewed vigilance”.
Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday hailed “the French spirit of resistance” of the gendarme Arnaud Beltrame who gave his life during the jihadist attack in Aude on Friday, calling “every citizen” to “a renewed vigilance and civility” face to “underground Islamism”.
Arnaud Beltrame, au moment du dernier adieu, je vous apporte la reconnaissance, l’admiration et l’affection de la nation tout entière. Je vous fais Commandeur de la Légion d’Honneur, et je vous nomme Colonel de la Gendarmerie. #HommageNational pic.twitter.com/lOsTyLRyGS
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) 28 March 2018
Gendarme Arnaud Beltrame “faced Islamist aggression, faced with hatred, in the face of murderous madness and with him the French spirit of resistance arose from the heart of the country,” said the head of state in praise funeral given during the national tribute in the Invalides Court of Honor. The tribute was held in the presence of former Presidents François Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy and political leaders of all sides including Marine Le Pen, Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Laurent Wauquiez.
“His example will remain”
“By the bravery of one alone, leading the Nation in its train, this unyielding determination in the face of barbarous nihilism immediately convened in our memoirs the high figures of Jean Moulin, Pierre Brossolette, the martyrs of the Vercors and the fighters of the maquis”, continued Emmanuel Macron.
Gendarme Arnaud Beltrame “today joins the brave procession of heroes he cherished,” said the head of state, ensuring that “his memory will live”, “his example will remain.”
Il était environ 11h ce vendredi 23 mars 2018 lorsque le Colonel Arnaud Beltrame s’est présenté devant la grande surface de Trèbes. #HommageNational pic.twitter.com/3EBXWC59u9
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) 28 March 2018
The president called “every citizen” to “renewed vigilance and civility” in the face of “underground Islamism”.
“It is not only the terrorist organizations, the armies of Daesh, the imams of hate and death that we are fighting. What we are fighting is also this underground Islamism (…) which on our soil indoctrinated by proximity and corrupts daily, “he said.
“We will prevail”
“It is an insidious enemy that requires every citizen a renewed vigilance and civility,” he said, ensuring that the French people overcome this “new test” “without weakness and without passion, with clarity and with method “.
“We will prevail thanks to the calm and resilience of the French, a people bent on the bites of history, patient in the fight, confident in the ultimate triumph of law and justice. We will prevail by the cohesion of a united nation “.
In his speech, the head of state also evoked the memory of the eighty year old Mireille Knoll, “murdered because she was Jewish”, while a “white march” is organised Wednesday afternoon in tribute to this survivor of the Holocaust.
