by Vanessa Knight – EM TV World News, Port Moresby
Parisians gathered across the capital on Sunday at the sites of what has been described as the ‘worst ever Paris terror attack’ which claimed 132 lives and left more than 300 others wounded.
Candlelight vigils were held and targeted areas comprising of a concert hall, a stadium and several restaurants turned into shrines as people mourned the victims.
French President, Francois Hollande, declared three days of mourning in the wake of the attack, whilst at the same time tightening up on security.
103 bodies have been identified from the attacks, with 20-30 more still awaiting identification.
At least 23 were identified as foreigners from more than 15 countries including the United Kingdom, Unites States, Mexico, Chile, Spain, Morocco and Portugal.
“We’re stunned, we’re sad. It’s an atrocity, there are no words. We’re here to pay our respects to all those people who are dead and it could have been us, to show our faces but it’s nothing to people who have lost loved ones. But we need to carry on, we’re strong, we’re going to fight,” Quentin said, a French mourner draped in a French flag.
A nationwide state of emergency was declared following a night of horror, when gunmen sprayed restaurants with bullets, massacred concertgoers and launched suicide attacks near the national stadium.
“It’s like a situation where we show what barbarity is compared with intelligence, the republic compared with terrorism, and unfortunately since the Charlie (Hebdo) attack it’s a situation that’s getting worse from day to day,” said another mourner, Richard Delautier.
The attack has confirmed what French security services have feared for months, that there would be a devastating attack similar to the one that left 17 dead in January.
But despite boosting surveillance powers some attackers have been able to slip through the cracks.
President Hollande said that the attacks, which are claimed to have been orchestrated by Islamic State militants, were an act of war.
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