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French press review 14 November 2017

French commentators reflect on an emotional day of remembrance for the 130 people killed in the 13 November attacks in Paris.

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Le Parisien offers a photographic report of the tribute, marked by President Emmanuel Macron laying wreaths at the six locations where gunmen and suicide bombers struck.

The paper also immortalises the moment when Macron and his wife Brigitte joined relatives of the victims as they released dozens of multi-coloured balloons in honour of the dead.

The Paris attacks were among a series of jihadist assaults that have killed more than 240 people in France since 2015, starting with the shooting at satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo on 15 January, which left 12 people dead and 11 others injured.

L'Union/L'Ardennais looks back at the trauma suffered at the Stade de France, and the blood-stained tables of the five bars and restaurants attacked by the terrorists as well as the body bags taken away from the Bataclan concert hall.

In the paper's mind, the names resonate like those of the other locations and cities where the "jihadist barbarians" have spread chaos.

Le Monde says 13 November 2015 has changed the lives of the French people, the 130 Parisians assassinated and the 683 others wounded in the shootings.

According to the paper if the attackers' plan was to stop people from living their lives, then the terrorists failed woefully. As a proof of that, it brandished the return of musicians to the Bataclan, and crowded café terraces and football stadiums.

According to Le Monde further proof of the first defeat of the Islamic State is that Charlie Hebdo has continued to shock the powerful, while friends clink glasses and lovers having a good time.

That, it says, is the normal order in this democratic country which refuses to allow itself to be torn apart by the cynicism of the terrorist organisation.

For Le Télégramme the tribute to the victims will not wipe away the persisting threat terrorism poses to the France, arguing that the Elysée Palace probably underestimated and neglected the threat after the Charlie Hebdo attacks in January 2015.

The publication however admits that anti-terrorism is far from being an exact science.

It commends the government for the substantial resources it has budgeted for the war against terror and for the unprecedentedly tough security legislation it has passed to give the intelligence services the free hand they need to carry out their work.

Macron's six months

Another anniversary that caught the attention of the papers is Macron's sixth month in office.

Left-leaning newspaper Libération says that's the time it has taken him to understand that he needs to integrate the poorest families --low wage earners jumping from fixed-term contracts to unemployment and back to casual jobs - into his policies.

Libé says that, despite being aware of their plight, Macron has offered them nothing, other than talking the talk. It publishes a new survey by the Viavoice polling institute showing that 65 percent of respondents see themselves as losers in Macron's flagship reforms.

According to the Communist Party's L'Humanité, the impression Macron has left so far is that of a steamroller whose decisions, action and direction will not be altered.

The daily says he is clearly not only the rich man's president but has fully assumed his status as leader of a class passionate about the laws of the market, a new vocabulary they would rather use, in place of capitalism.

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