A theme persisted across various magazine covers in the Paris news stands as the year began: ‘Has France changed?’. Christophe Barbier wrote in L’Express that “There is, today, a profound malaise in the Republic.” This January, I was lured back to Paris to catch up with friends made on my year abroad and feast on galettes des rois pas- tries piled high in bakery windows, my visit coinciding with the anniversary of the attack on the Charie Hebdo offi ces last January.
I spoke to colleagues and business owners in areas near where attacks took place about “Old couples stood arm in arm, hands raised in defiance” whether they felt Paris had changed since the attacks last year. Responses varied considerably.
Walking along the canal, which in warm weather is packed with young Parisians eating, drinking and smoking, it was hard to attribute the eerie silence merely to the cold. The canal is particularly unprepossessing at the moment, having just been emptied of water for the next four months while it is cleaned, something they do every 10 to 15 years. Ghostly bicycles and other assorted objects could be seen half-submerged in the greenish sludge.
Typically, the ever-gentrifying 10th and 11th arrondissements through which the canal runs are a favourite haunt for hipsters with its bistrots, brunch spots and bars, as well as attracting tourists eager to see where Amélie skimmed her stones in the 2001 film. I asked Bruno, a waiter at canal-side bar Chez Prune, a stone’s throw from Le Petit Cambodge, where 15 people were killed in November, if their business had suff ered since the attacks.
“No, we didn’t really suffer. We are lucky here, in between the canal and Place de la République, we always pick up tourists so we weren’t much aff ected, we didn’t need to close. I know a lot of restaurants in this area haven’t been as lucky”.
When asked if he felt the nightlife around the canal had changed, he replied, “For around two weeks, it was quiet. People were scared, they stayed indoors. Then suddenly it was as if everyone agreed they had had enough. Everyone descended on the bars, restaurants, and shops. At the beginning of December you’d have thought it was Christmas Eve, you couldn’t move it was so busy.”
While we were talking, a regular customer walked in to Chez Prune, greeted Bruno warmly and told us that someone had just been shot by police in the 18th arrondissement, after running towards the police station holding a butcher knife and wearing what looked like a suicide belt.
The pair joked about it, the situation having been neutralised. Nobody panicked. I saw from my phone that a few friends had also heard about the shooting on the news and wanted to check it wasn’t near where I was. “All fine,” I replied – and it was. But a slight tension lingered, perhaps because the event seemed almost inauspicious. Given the current terrorist threat level, I suppose this is to be expected. Other friends I spoke to told me nothing had really changed, that everything was back to normal now – others said they avoided crowds now. While Paris’s rhythm may remain largely unchanged, last year’s events seem never to be far from people’s minds.
On Sunday 10th January, a ceremony took place at Place de la République to commemorate the tragic attacks that took place during 2015. The atmosphere was very diff erent to that of the previous January. The day the Charlie Hebdo offices were attacked, I joined thousands of others in République square – I had never seen so many people in my life, singing, chanting, climbing on telephone boxes and statues. It wasn’t just the young, either; old couples stood arm in arm with their free hands raised in the air in anger and defiance.
Three days later, on 11th January, around two million people gathered to march for solidarity. The atmosphere during the commemorative ceremony was quieter, more reflective. Hollande addressed a far smaller crowd than the one seen on that famous day, partly due to high security measures restricting entrance to the square. The families of victims of the attacks were present within an enclosed area in the centre of the square around which screens had been erected.
Also read out was the speech given by Victor Hugo in September 1870 on his return to France after 19 years of exile – a speech which might have been written today: “To save Paris is to save not just France, but the world…Those who attack Paris attack the whole of humanity”. The speech ends, “We will prevail. It is through fraternity that we will save liberty.”
After a minute’s silence, the French Army choir sang ‘La Marseillaise’. As the ceremony ended, Hollande and the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, shook hands with the families of the victims. I returned at the end of the day when it was getting dark and the barriers surrounding the statue had been removed. People were busy lighting and re-lighting candles around the central statue. At around half past five, an oak tree planted in remembrance was illuminated, as was the statue and a mural with the words of the city’s motto, ‘Fluctuat Nec Mergitur’ – tossed but not sunk. Dating back to 1358, these words beautifully encapsulate much of what we have seen in France since the atrocities committed last year.
That the people of Paris feel uneasy is understandable given all that they have suffered. I feel sure that Paris will always be Paris, with defiance and resilience in its heritage and history. A friend joked to me that hardly any young French people knew the Parisian motto, and yet French people remain true to their history in the traditions they honour, bringing epiphany pastries, galettes des rois, into the office and playing boules by the canal. I’d bet any money that the same number of wine bottles will be found at the bottom of the canal when the time to drain it comes around again.
