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French press review 20 September 2016

Tears, a moment of silence and calls for tolerance mark emotional national ceremony  at "Les Invalides" tribute for French terror victims.   

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We begin with comments on Monday's emotional national tribute at the Invalides to the 234 French citizens killed in terror attacks at home and abroad over the past 12 months.

Particularly fresh in French minds are the 130 cut down in Paris by IS gunmen and suicide bombers on November 13, 2015, and the 86 Bastille Day fireworks fans killed in the truck massacre in Nice in July.

Le Parisien

According to the paper, while President Hollande struggled to console the bereaved families, the country's political leaders present at the ceremony and the nation at large seemed resigned to the reality that they now have to learn and accept to live with the terrorist threat for the rest of their lives.

A sign of the times, marked by Le Parisien is the" false alarm "that got police flooding into the Les Halles shopping district of Paris on Saturday. That was after a national alert system broadcast warnings that a hostage-taking was under way.

La Montagne

The regional publication reacts to President Hollande's announcement of a reform of the 30-year-old system to compensate the victims of terror attacks and their families. The legislation currently prescribes reparations of 62.500 euros for a child and 21.000 euros for a brother or sister affected.

La Montagne says President Hollande did the right thing not to announce the new figures considering the rather sensitive nature of the reparations involved and the fact that it could open the flood gates for the filing of thousands of litigations in the months ahead.

L'Union/L'Ardennais

The regional commends the initiative by President Hollande to organize the tribute to the victims of terrorism claiming that it was good for citizens to come together and share a moment of silence and the pain felt deep inside by the victims’ families.

For Le Journal de la Haute-Marne, the emotional testimonies delivered by some victims and the relatives served as a lesson to politicians, President Hollande, former Presidents and the string of candidates vying for the country's highest during the upcoming Presidential primaries.

Libération

According to Libé, it would be hard to understand had terrorism not become the foremost issue of concern to the French people at this moment. But the left-leaning publication urges voters not to forget questions of daily concern such as unemployment, labor and France's overall economic situation.

Libé, says it doesn't trust the ability of all the candidates taking part in the primaries to understand the conditions, demands and aspirations of workers about their jobs and work places. "It will be unacceptable", argues the left-leaning publication, "to allow such capital issues slip out of the limelight during the campaign".

And it explains that this is why it has decided to team up with the moderate French Democratic Confederation of Labor union (CFDT), "to paint the clearest picture possible" of the economy so as to “put the Presidential candidates to work”.

 

 

 

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