France vows to destroy the ‘army of fanatics’

Nation pays homage to those killed in Paris attacks 2 weeks ago; ‘we are a single and unified nation,’ says Hollande.

French President Francois Hollande sitting in front of members of the French government, officials andguests during a ceremony to pay a national homage to the victims of the Paris attacks at Les Invalidesmonument in Paris on Friday.

A subdued France paid homage on Friday to those killed two weeks ago in the attacks that gripped Paris in fear and mourning, honouring each of the 130 dead by name as the President pledged to destroy the army of fanatics who claimed so many young lives.

With each name and age read aloud inside the Invalides national monument, the toll gained new force. Most, as French President Francois Hollande noted, were under the age of 35, killed while enjoying a mild Friday night of music, food, drinks or sports. The youngest was 17, the oldest 68.

Throughout Paris, French flags fluttered in windows and on buses in uncharacteristic displays of patriotism in response to Paris’s second deadly terror attack this year. But the mood was grim, and the locked-down ceremony at the Invalides national monument lacked the defiance of January, when a million people poured through the streets to honour those killed by Islamist extremist gunmen.

The night of November 13, three teams of suicide bombers and gunmen struck across Paris, beginning at the national stadium where Mr. Hollande was among the spectators and ending in the storming of the Bataclan concert venue. In all, 130 people died and hundreds were injured. The crowd at the stadium shakily sang French national anthem as they filed outside that night; a military band played the Marseillaise again on Friday.

Mournful celero The courtyard went silent after the reading of the names finished, broken finally by a mournful cello. Mr. Hollande stared straight ahead, before finally rising to speak.

“To all of you, I solemnly promise that France will do everything to destroy the army of fanatics who committed these crimes,” Mr. Hollande said.

The speech was dedicated above all to the dead and the youth of France. “The ordeal has scarred us all, but it will make us stronger. I have confidence in the generation to come. Generations before have also had their identity forged in the flower of youth. The attack of November 13 will remain in the memory of today’s youth as a terrible initiation in the hardness of the world. But also as an invitation to combat it by creating a new commitment,” he said.

“It was this harmony that they wanted to break, shatter. Well, they will not stop it. We will multiply the songs, the concerts, the shows. We will keep going to the stadiums. We will participate in sports gatherings great and small. And we will commune in the best of emotions, without being troubled by our differences, our origins, our colours, our convictions, our beliefs, our religions. Because we are a single and unified nation, with the same values,” said the President.