France will not let these horrific attacks break the Parisian spirit
This atrocity, nor any other, will scare the French people into changing their behaviour or their way of life
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Your support makes all the difference.It's hard to feel easy about the monstrous attacks in Paris. They are among the worst terrorist outrages on European soil in modern history. The rigid organisation, with well co-ordinates locations and in a set timeframe, was frightening to watch unfold.
The Charlie Hebdo attacks of last January, when writers and cartoonists for the French satirical publication were slaughtered in Paris, were powerful because they represented an attack on a symbol of European culture - the free press. But yesterday's terrorist attacks were arguably more powerful in the mind of the public because they targeted the French people at random.
Parisians were killed because they chose to eat at a Cambodian restaurant. Others lost their life because they went to see a heavy metal concert at a well-known Parisian nightclub. It's not an exaggeration that a person you may know could have been a victim in these attacks.
And yet, for the French capital, life will go on.
Paris is Paris. It's la ville lumière. Like Londoners or New Yorkers, Parisians are strong and stubborn people. They will proudly continue their to live daily lives just like Londoners had done after the Blitz in World War II or New Yorkers after 9/11.
This is how terrorism and fanaticism will lose the propaganda battle that is being waged by extremists.
Tourists and visitors should go to Paris to send a message to terrorists and their sympathisers: that this atrocity, nor any other, will scare the French people into changing their behaviour or their way of life.
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