A week after terrorist attacks shattered a French Friday evening, Parisians grasped for the things they love — cafes and bistros.
The search for normalcy in a city shaken to its core persisted even as suspects remained on the run and investigators desperately fought to keep terrorists from striking again.
Back to the bar
The cafes and bistros of Paris are the French capital’s living room.
At the coaxing of President Francois Hollande and restaurateurs, Parisians have rallied behind the hastag #TousAuBistrot, basically “everyone to the bistro” or “back to the bar.”
“What would our country be without its cafes, concerts, sport events, museums?” Hollande asked this week.
Keeping a wary eye on developments, Parisians sipped their wine and nibbled on quiche.
Ringleader dead
They did so knowing French authorities had identified the body of Abdelhamid Abaaoud. He was killed during a dramatic raid that shook the Saint-Denis neighborhood and collapsed an entire floor of an apartment building. But investigators say their work is far from finished.
A series of raids in Belgium and a search of a home on the outskirts of Paris on Thursday were the latest signs of investigators’ efforts to piece together — and take down — the network of terrorists behind the attacks before they can strike again.
Official sources in France have also identified a woman who blew herself up during the raid: 26-year-old Hasna Ait Boulahcen, a relative of Abaaoud.
Investigators haven’t revealed much about the suicide bomber. Friends of her family in their hometown of Aulnay-sous-Bois, on the northeastern outskirts of Paris, said she had lived there until recently. Residents in the area told CNN authorities had taken her mother and brother into custody. And the Paris prosecutor’s office told CNN that police were searching the mother’s home.
Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said Abaaoud “played a decisive role” in the Paris attacks and played a part in four of six terror attacks foiled since spring, with one alleged jihadist claiming Abaaoud had trained him personally.(Ed Payne, Catherine E. Shoichet and Margot Haddad)
Link: http://edition.cnn.com/2015/11/20/world/paris-attacks/index.html
20
