Paris wary one year on from terror attacks

Hundreds of balloons and illuminated paper lanterns have been released in Paris to honour the memories of those lost in the terrorist attacks one year ago.

Less insouciant, more policed - France is a changed place since Islamic State extremists killed 130 people in the country's deadliest attacks a year ago.

Fearing it's becoming more divided, too, survivors and victims' families marked Sunday's anniversary of the violence by pleading for national unity instead.

Tourism is hurting, armed forces roam streets and France is still under a state of emergency that rights groups call abusive and ineffective - with the prime minister saying these may be extended yet again.

"We always have this fear that weighs heavily in our hearts. We always try to be careful. And every time we pass by here, we think of them," said Sabrina Nedjadi, while paying respects at two cafes in her diverse eastern Paris neighbourhood targeted in the attacks.

Hundreds of balloons were released at midday to honour the memories of the victims; at dusk, paper lanterns were released into the Canal Saint Martin, bearing red, white and blue lights representing the French tricolor. Onlookers, including many families with children, lined the canal and surrounding bridges, watching silently as the lanterns drifted.

Some fear that France itself is adrift, its government unable to defeat the amorphous extremist enemy even as authorities encroach on liberties the French hold dear.

While French warplanes are targeting IS strongholds in Iraq and Syria, the state of emergency at home allows broadened police powers to search homes and monitor communications. But it could not prevent further attacks on France over the past year, including a truck rampage in Nice by a man claiming allegiance to IS. "Yes, terrorism will strike us again," Prime Minister Manuel Valls warned this weekend.

The International Federation for Human Rights warned in a recent report: "France is now in a situation where an 'exceptional' regime is becoming permanent, in the name of combating terrorism. But there is little evidence that this approach is working and it comes at a cost to fundamental rights."

As silence descended Sunday on Paris for a series of commemorations, the son of the first victim of the attacks spoke out for tolerance in the face of hate.

Manuel Dias, an immigrant from Portugal, was killed by a suicide bomber outside the national stadium during an international match November 13, 2015.

Under heavy security, President Francois Hollande unveiled a plaque in his memory near the Stade de France.

Dias' son Michael said his father was "living proof that integration is possible, necessary" to end such violence.

Learning to live again after extremists killed his father was "a personal challenge, but it concerns us all," Dias said. "Long live tolerance, long live intelligence, long live France."

Some people cried, others simply lit candles or laid flowers at ceremonies near the six bars and eateries where gunmen opened fire on unsuspecting crowds enjoying an unusually mild November Friday night.

Mourners, tourists and residents streamed to the Bataclan concert hall, where 90 people were killed by three attackers who also took hostages. The concert hall reopened Saturday night with an emotional concert by Sting.

Jesse Holmes of Eagles of Death Metal, the California band whose concert that night ended in a bloodbath, paid respects at the Bataclan ceremony, placing his hand on his heart as he departed.

Nine people remain hospitalised from the attacks; others are paralysed. Hundreds are still receiving psychological treatment.

The coordinated attacks were a wake-up call for France and for Europe.

They followed the January 2015 newsroom massacre at the satiric newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris and a Kosher grocery store that left 17 dead. But the complex planning behind the November 13 attacks and the high number of deaths revealed a degree of French vulnerability not previously suspected by authorities.

Neighboring Belgium, the starting point of the attacks in Paris, was hit on March 22 with attacks on its airport and a metro station that killed 32 people.


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Source: AAP



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