Again, the city of Paris was targeted by terrorists earlier today, and events are still developing..
There were four separate attacks, including at the Stade de France, which was packed for a friendly match between Germany and host France. Video shows the game, not even twenty minutes in, suddenly being interrupted as the stadium was rocked by an explosion. The game was cancelled, as suicide bombers exploded themselves nearby, although details have been too sketchy for me to accurately describe things beyond that.
There was another attack at a night club or a concert hall, where an American heavy metal band was playing. As of right now, this remains an active hostage situation.
Another attack was at a shopping mall, and still another attack at a Cambodian restaurant.
Already, the death toll has been confirmed as at least 60 dead, with many more wounded. Those numbers are unfortunately expected to rise.
The city of Paris has been shut down, and people were ordered to go home. In an almost unprecedented scene for such a city on a Friday night, the streets of Paris are right now abandoned.
A state of emergency has been declared throughout France, and the borders of the country have been shut.
For now, no one has claimed responsibility, or at least it has not been announced that anyone has just yet, although this looks similar to prior attacks by Al Qaeda.
In a statement made earlier this evening, President Obama said that the French were America's oldest friends, and have stood by the United States time and again, and that Americans would stand by France now in her hour of need.
Personally, I know not what to say, and am at a loss for words. This is incredibly depressing and worrisome, and is extremely saddening. My heart and thoughts go out to the families of the victims, the city of Paris, and the entire nation of France right now.
I'm feeling fairly numb. It's strange in a way that the game between France and Germany was even allowed to continue (the explosions were clearly audible - I saw footage of players appearing to stop and look around). Pop and I think it may have been an attempt to keep the 80,000 people in attendance calm, since the possibility of such a large number of people entering a panicked state could have made an already nightmarish situation much worse. Not that it much matters by the way, but it wasn't a metal band that was playing, but a rock band with the word "metal" in its name: The Eagles of Death Metal. They were playing a popular venue in the 11th arrondissement called "Le Bataclan". Sigh... I get so wrapped up in my personal problems and melodramas, but every once in a while some horrific event such as this one provides reminders (as if one were needed) that we live in a fucked-up world, and that my personal stress is trivial in the bigger scheme of things. Paris seems to be in the midst of the most trying year it's had in a very long time.
ReplyDeleteYes, I heard that the game continued as a means of not having everyone panic and stampede out all at the same time. Understandable logic, although if things had gotten really bad, it might have been compared to the announcement in the second Twin Tower urging people to stay put and keep working. Our only memories of that stadium were exclusively good, it is sad to know that it now will be known at least as much for the terrorist attacks yesterday than for the 1998 World Cup if not more so. That was an awesome year for France, and perhaps especially Paris. Like you said, though, this year has been an entirely different story. Incredible sad. They kept saying on the news that The Eagles of Death metal were a metal band, and judging by the name, I had assumed that they were. Don't know anything about them, since last night was the first time that I had even heard of them, admittedly.
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