Canada (FM. Minister Dion) Appalled by Attacks in Paris
November 13, 2015 – Ottawa, Ontario – Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada
The Honourable Stéphane Dion, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today issued the following statement concerning a series of attacks and a hostage taking in Paris, France:
“I am dismayed at the tragic events that took place in Paris, including the series of heinous attacks and the hostage situation.
“I join Prime Minister Trudeau and all Canadians in expressing my deepest condolences to the families and friends of the victims and my wish for a speedy recovery to the injured.
“Canada and France will remain united in the fight against terror. Canada offers France its full support during these difficult times.”
Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada’s Emergency Watch and Response Centre in Ottawa and the Embassy of Canada in Paris are endeavouring to determine if Canadian citizens have been affected.
Canadian citizens in Paris requiring emergency consular assistance should contact the Embassy of Canada in Paris at +33 (0)1 44 43 29 02 or call the 24/7 Emergency Watch and Response Centre collect at +1 613 996 8885. An email can also be sent to sos@international.gc.ca.
Paris in Shock after Terror Attacks
Agence France Presse/November 14/15/Legendary for its beauty and bustling streets, Paris was in shock and mourning on Saturday after 128 people were killed in the worst terrorist attack in France’s history. The day after the bloodbath, the city’s major attractions were shuttered from Disneyland in the east and the Eiffel Tower in the center to the Chateau of Versailles in the west, and its picturesque squares and avenues were eerily quiet. Schools, markets, museums and other tourist sites across the greater Paris area were closed and sporting fixtures were canceled on the orders of the city or national authorities.
“All city facilities are closed today,” Paris City Hall said on its website (http://www.paris.fr/actualites/fermeture-de-tous-les-equipements-parisiens-3082).The list comprised schools, museums, libraries, sports halls, swimming pools, tennis courts, food markets and district town halls. Only civil registration offices, to record marriages, will be open, it said, adding that security would be beefed up at town halls. A line of people at least 100 meters (yards) long formed outside the city’s main blood donation center to offer their blood, even though no appeal had been made. Outside a Cambodian restaurant where 12 people were killed, mourners placed flowers, a candle and the French national flag, which had written on it “Fluctuat nec mergitur” — the Latin slogan of Paris, which means “It is buffeted by the waves, yet remains afloat.”The closures came after simultaneous attacks on a concert hall, restaurants and the Stade de France stadium that left at least 128 dead and 180 injured, 80 of them seriously, according to a toll from police sources. It was the second terrorist strike in less than 10 months. In January, 17 people were killed in jihadist gun attacks, five of the cartoonists at the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. In the Place de la Bourse, a large square near the Paris Opera, traffic was unusually thin and pedestrians were few. “People are worried,” Jean-Louis Masson, 50, who lives locally, told an AFP reporter. “You can see that in the SMS messages that are going around. We were concerned for one of our children who was out last night, and we called to make sure she came home.”Masson’s son, Adrien, 13, said he was a “bit worried. You get to be afraid that something could happen.”Police said all public demonstrations in the Paris region would be banned until Thursday. At newspaper kiosks, dramatic headlines and pictures likened Paris to a combat zone, after suspected jihadists attacked crowds and restaurants goers. “War in the heart of Paris,” the conservative daily Le Figaro said. “This time, it’s war,” Le Parisien said. Separately, the French secretary of state for sports issued instructions to sports federations to cancel matches this weekend. Cancelled events include a European Champions Cup rugby match between Racing 92 and the Glasgow Warriors. The Eiffel Tower was closed according to a message on its website that did not say how long it would remain shuttered. Disneyland Paris, which is located on the eastern rim of the Paris region, said it would not open on Saturday “in light of the recent tragic events in France and in support of our community and the victims of these horrendous attacks.””Our thoughts and prayers go out to all of those affected by these horrible events,” it said. The Paris Opera canceled its concerts for Saturday, and the city’s philharmonic orchestra said its venue would close all weekend. Irish rock band U2 also called off a Paris concert planned for Saturday. The Chateau of Versailles, the Louvre and other Paris museums opened early Saturday but then closed. Paris’ Bateaux-Mouches tourist boats, which provide excursions on the Seine, said it would maintain its schedule. “We will have added security — searches and no large luggage allowed onboard, and we will have more security guards onboard,” a switchboard operator said.
Security Beefed up around Europe after Paris Attacks
Agence France Press/November 14/15/European capitals reinforced security checks and governments held emergency cabinet meetings on Saturday a day after a series of coordinated attacks in Paris in which at least 128 people were killed. Security measures were stepped up outside French official buildings in various capitals including Vienna, where a international meeting on the conflict in Syria was taking place. Governments also called for heightened vigilance from the general public. Britain’s Foreign Office updated its travel advice for France urging its citizens to “exercise caution in public places” while Belgium said its nationals should avoid unnecessary travel south of the border altogether. British Prime Minister David Cameron said he would review national security after talks with key ministers at Downing Street. Similar meetings were being held by governments across Europe, including in Austria, Germany, Italy and Spain. Islamic State jihadists on Saturday claimed the series of coordinated attacks by suicide bombers and gunmen in Paris at a concert hall, restaurants and the national sports stadium. French President Francois Hollande also blamed the Islamic extremist group and called the coordinated assault on Friday night at six different sites an “act of war”. Here are some of the key developments in Europe:
– Britain: London’s Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner Mark Rowley said: “We are strengthening our policing stance across the country at the moment”. The French embassy in London said on Twitter that it was “in close contact with British authorities to ensure the security of the French community,” which is estimated to number around 300,000 people.
– Russia: The National Anti-Terrorism Committee said in a statement carried by Russian news agencies that the country’s security had been put on high alert. “In light of the new threats, all components of the security system have put been put on high alert,” it said, urging “high responsibility and vigilance in the face of new challenges” from the public.
– Germany: German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she would chair an emergency meeting to discuss “the situation in France and all related questions”.
– Belgium: The Belgian authorities boosted checks at the French border and called for greater vigilance at major events over the weekend but said it was not necessary to increase the alert level.
– Italy: Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi announced reinforced security across the country and was to hold a meeting at the interior ministry.
– Poland: Poland said it was increasing checks on departures and arrivals of flights to and from “potentially at-risk destinations”.
– Spain: Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy canceled a political meeting in Barcelona, five weeks ahead of parliamentary elections, and was due to chair a national security council meeting.
– Austria: The French lycee in Vienna, where exams were due to be held on Saturday, was closed and city officials canceled a popular Christmas market.
– Switzerland: Police in Switzerland said security was being stepped up outside French diplomatic buildings and at the border with France.
– Sweden: Prime Minister Stefan Löfven was holding a natural security council meeting but a scheduled Sweden-Denmark football match was still going ahead.
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IS Terrorists Claims Paris Attacks that Killed 128
Agence France Presse/November 14/15/Islamic State jihadists on Saturday claimed a series of coordinated attacks by suicide bombers and gunmen in Paris that killed at least 128 people at a concert hall, restaurants and the national sports stadium. French President Francois Hollande also blamed the Islamic extremist group and called the coordinated assault on Friday night at six different sites an “act of war”. At least eight militants, all wearing suicide vests, brought unprecedented violence to the streets of the French capital in the worst attacks in Europe since the 2004 Madrid train bombings. In the bloodiest part of a night of violence, four men armed with AK47s and shouting “Allahu akbar” stormed into a rock concert at the Bataclan concert hall in eastern Paris, gunning down at least 82 people and taking dozens hostage. “They didn’t stop firing. There was blood everywhere, corpses everywhere. Everyone was trying to flee,” said Pierre Janaszak, a radio presenter who was at the concert by US rock band Eagles of Death Metal. The gunmen were heard raging at Hollande and his decision in September to begin air strikes on Islamic State jihadists in Syria. “I clearly heard them say ‘It’s the fault of Hollande, it’s the fault of your president, he should not have intervened in Syria’,” Janaszak added. French officials have spoken frequently of their fears that hundreds of French citizens thought to be fighting with IS in Syria and Iraq would return to France and launch attacks.France has taken part in U.S.-led air strikes on IS targets in Iraq for over a year and in September began bombing the jihadists in Syria, claiming to have hit a training camp and an oil installation. In a statement issued online on Saturday morning, Islamic State said that “eight brothers wearing explosive belts and carrying assault rifles” conducted a “blessed attack on… Crusader France.”
The death toll of 128 does not include the eight attackers, the first suicide bombers to strike in France. The assault also left at least 250 wounded, 100 of them seriously.
Hollande said the multiple attacks across Paris were “an act of war… committed by a terrorist army, Daesh, against France”, using another term for IS.France has been on high alert since January when jihadist gunmen killed 17 people in Paris in attacks targeting satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and a Jewish supermarket. Another disaster was narrowly averted in August when a gunman was overpowered on a packed high-speed train in northern France.
No arrests had been made by early Saturday morning and the country was in a state of emergency, decreed by Hollande on Friday night. Police were screening hours of CCTV footage of the attack sites and were attempting to identify the body parts of the attackers.As a precaution, sports events were canceled in Paris, while public schools and many museums were closed. Hollande himself had to be hastily evacuated from the Stade de France stadium when suicide bombers struck outside during a friendly football international between France and Germany. At first, few of the crowd appeared to grasp the significance of what was happening and the game continued. When news began filtering in, people surged on to the turf in chaotic scenes. U.S. President Barack Obama led a chorus of global condemnation, saying it was “an attack on all of humanity”, and New York lit the new World Trade Center in the red, white and blue of the French flag in sympathy. Obama is one of dozens of world leaders expected to attend key UN climate talks just outside the French capital from November 30. Authorities had already tightened security at France’s borders on Friday, hours ahead of the carnage in Paris.
The worst of the killing occurred at the Bataclan music venue in the trendy 11th arrondissement where more than 1,000 rock fans were at the sell-out show.
As screams rang out and survivors ran over the injured or dead to make their ways to the exits or places to hide, the militants took hostages and began executing them. “We heard people screaming — the hostages particularly — and the threats from the kidnappers,” said another survivor, 34-year-old Charles.
Along with around 20 others, he fled to a toilet where he pushed through the ceiling and hid in the cavity. Three of the militants blew up their explosive belts as heavily armed anti-terror police raided the venues around 12.30 am (2330 GMT), while a fourth was shot dead. Another attacker blew himself up in nearby Boulevard Voltaire, as the streets were filled with the sound of police sirens and convoys of ambulances shipping hundreds of injured to hospital. A police officer who took part in the storming of the building told AFP: “It was horrible inside, a bloodbath, people shot in the head, people who were shot as they were lying on the ground.” Several restaurants near the concert hall were also targeted, including a popular Cambodian eatery in the trendy Canal St. Martin area, where bars and restaurants were thronged with young revellers.An extra 1,500 soldiers were mobilized to reinforce police in Paris, Hollande’s office said.
French media reacted with horror. “War in central Paris,” splashed center-right daily Le Figaro, with Le Parisien saying: “This time it’s war.”Other reactions were a mix of fear and defiance. Concert-goer Charles, who spoke to AFP at the Bataclan, said he would refuse to be cowed by the scenes of terror he had experienced. “Life goes on. We won’t give in to fear,” he said. “I’m going to a concert on Tuesday. Keep rocking!”German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said they were “deeply shocked” by the attacks.
Syria’s Assad: Paris attacks result of French policy
AFP/November 14/15/Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said Saturday that French policy had contributed to the “spread of terrorism” that culminated in attacks claimed by the Islamic State group which killed 128 people in Paris. In a meeting with a delegation of French lawmakers in Damascus, Assad said France’s “mistaken policies… had contributed to the spread of terrorism.””The terrorist attacks that targeted the French capital Paris cannot be separated from what happened in the Lebanese capital Beirut lately and from what has been happening in Syria for the past five years and in other areas,” he said.
Assad was referring to twin bombings claimed by IS which killed 44 people on Thursday in the southern suburbs of Beirut, a stronghold of his Lebanese ally, Shiite militant group Hezbollah. Assad regards all the rebel groups fighting his forces inside Syria as “terrorists”, not just IS. Assad said he had “warned against what would happen in Europe for the past three years.” “We said, don’t take what is happening in Syria lightly. Unfortunately, European officials did not listen,” he said, in comments to the delegation broadcast by France’s Europe 1 radio. He said French President Francois Hollande “should change his policy.””The question that is being asked throughout France today is, was France’s policy over the past five years the right one? The answer is no.”France has been a leading supporter of the Syrian opposition since soon after the outbreak of protests against Assad’s rule in 2011. It is also part of a US-led coalition conducting an air war against IS in both Syria and Iraq. It has carried out air strikes in Iraq for more than a year but extended them to Syria in September.
Iraq PM says Paris attacks show need for global action
AFP/November 14/15/Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Saturday condemned gun and bomb attacks in Paris that killed more than 120 people, saying they showed the need for action against militants worldwide.”We condemn and deplore the terrorist attacks in Paris, which emphasise that fighting terrorism calls for international efforts to eliminate it in all countries,” Abadi said in a statement. At least eight militants, all of whom were wearing suicide vests, killed diners and concert-goers, and launched suicide attacks outside the national stadium, also wounding 180 people. Iraq is battling the Islamic State jihadist group, which overran large parts of the country last year, and Baghdad was hit by multiple bombings on Friday that killed at least 19 people. While Iraqi forces backed by US-led air strikes have regained significant ground north of the capital, much of the country’s west remains under IS control.
Top Sunni Muslim cleric condemns ‘hateful’ Paris attacks
AFP/November 14/15/The head of Sunni Islam’s leading seat of learning, Cairo’s Al-Azhar, on Saturday condemned “hateful” attacks in Paris that killed more than 120 people and urged global unity against extremism.”We denounce this hateful incident,” Ahmed al-Tayyeb told a conference in comments broadcast by Egyptian state television. “The time has come for the world to unite to confront this monster. “Such acts are contrary to all religious, humanitarian and civilised principles,” Tayyeb said at the opening of the conference in the southern city of Luxor focused on combating “extremist thought”.A state of emergency has been declared across France in the aftermath of Friday night’s coordinated shootings and bombings on Paris streets.
Iran’s Rouhani brands Paris attacks ‘crimes against humanity’ AFP/November 14/15/Iranian President Hassan Rouhani strongly condemned Friday’s deadly attacks in Paris, branding them “crimes against humanity” in a message to his French counterpart Francois Hollande, official news agency Irna said. “In the name of the Iranian people, who have themselves been victims of terrorism, I strongly condemn these crimes against humanity and offer my condolences to the grieving French people and government,” Rouhani wrote.
Paris attacks a ‘violation of all religions’: Saudi FM
AFP/November 14/15/The “heinous” Paris attacks are a violation of all religions and underline the need to intensify efforts against “terrorism”, Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister said Saturday as he arrived in Vienna for talks on ending Syria’s civil war. “I wanted to express our condolences to the government and people of France for the heinous terrorist attacks that took place yesterday which are in violation and contravention of all ethics, morals and religions,” Adel al-Jubeir told reporters in Vienna. “The kingdom of Saudi Arabia has long called for more intensified international efforts to combat the scourge of terrorism in all its forms and shapes,” he said. The talks in Vienna involving some 20 countries and international organisations — but no Syrian representatives — are aimed at working out a roadmap to end the country’s bloody civil war after almost five years of combat. But there are deep divisions, notably between Iran and Russia on one side and Western and Arab nations on the other, on the future of President Bashar al-Assad and which opposition groups to back. Witnesses said that the gunmen who killed at least 120 people in the attacks late Friday in Paris shouted “Allahu akbar” (“God is greatest”) and blamed France’s military intervention in Syria against Islamic State (IS) extremists.
Paris Attacks Heighten Pressure at Vienna Syria Talks
Agence France Presse/November 14/15/Multiple attacks in Paris claimed by Islamic State jihadists increased the pressure on some 20 countries and organizations meeting in Vienna on Saturday to overcome deep divisions and help end Syria’s civil war. Witnesses said that the gunmen who killed almost 130 people in Friday’s wave of attacks shouted “Allahu akbar” (“God is greatest”) and blamed French military action in Syria against Islamic State (IS) extremists. Vowing no stop to French “international action”, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said in Vienna that the killings underlined the need to “increase the international coordination in the struggle against Daesh (IS).”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov agreed, saying that the attacks were “no justification” to ease up on tackling radical jihadists such as IS and the Al-Nusra Front, affiliated to Al-Qaida. And U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said that the attacks will “stiffen our resolve, all of us, to fight back.”
“If they’ve done anything they’ve encouraged us today to do even harder work to make progress and to help resolve the crises that we face,” he said. EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said that the bloodbath added “another kind of meaning” to the gathering. “The countries sitting around the table have almost all experienced the same pain, the same terror,” she said, citing the recent Russian plane disaster in Egypt and suicide bombings in Beirut and Turkey. In almost five years, fighting between the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad and rebel groups as well as IS militants has killed over 250,000 people and forced millions into exile, leaving many of them stranded in neighboring states. Others have headed to Europe, causing major splits in the European Union over how to stem the flow and share out the new arrivals among the bloc. At the last Syria talks on October 30, the participants — who include Iran and Saudi Arabia — urged the U.N. to broker a peace deal between the regime and opposition to clear the way for a new constitution and elections. Building on that, this round of talks will try to agree on a roadmap for peace that would include a ceasefire between Assad’s forces and some opposition groups, diplomats say. But a key issue — which was absent from the last meeting’s declaration — remains Assad’s future. Western and Arab countries want him out of the way in order to allow a transitional government to unite the country behind a reconciliation process and to defeat IS. British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said on Friday that Assad “has to go”. He added, however, that Western powers “recognize that if there will be a transition he may play a part, up to a point, in that transition”. But Russia, carrying out air strikes against Syrian rebels since late September, is together with Iran sticking by Assad. “Syria is a sovereign country, Bashar Assad is a president elected by the people,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview released Friday. Putting that aside, the talks will focus on deciding which of the Syrian government, rebel and opposition factions — none of whom will be represented at the talks — will shape the country’s future. But deciding which of the many opposition groups are moderate enough to be acceptable and which to sideline as “terrorists” is likely to be no easy task. “I cannot say… that we are on the threshold of a comprehensive agreement, no,” Kerry had said on Thursday. “The walls of mistrust within Syria, within the region, within the international community are thick and they are high.”
