French expats brave rain to remember terror victims

French Consul General Philippe Janvier Kamiyama said the event was organised to remember the victims of the terror attack. “Puducherry has a large community of French people and we wanted to gather and show our respect to those who lost their lives in the Paris terror attacks. We chose to have it at the war memorial, because every year, we commemorate the soldiers who died fighting the World War I. Today, we remember the victims of the terror attacks, who lost their lives. Despite the rain, we had many French people and other expats, who came together and prayed for the victims,” he said. Predibane Siva, French Counsular councillor, pointed out that it was a show of togetherness for a common cause. “It was a show of solidarity towards the French people,” he added.

Pierre-Emmanuel Jacob, Director of the Alliance Francaise de Madras, decided to go ahead with a dance performance scheduled on Saturday evening, at the institute. “Despite the strong advice of our Ministry of Foreign Affairs to cancel any performance or public meeting in the next 72 hours, I decided to carry on with our dance programme. We do not have to succumb to the terror. On the contrary, we have to stand up, to condemn it, to say no to terrorism, no to obscurantism, no to intolerance. It was a touching moment of humanity as the audience stood up for a minute of silence and the artists dedicated their performance to the victims. To go on living a normal life is our way of protesting these attacks,” he said, adding that there may also be a service planned at the institute soon.

Arnaud de la Porte du Theil, Head of IT AFS France in India, said the French expat community may plan a service this week. “We would like to organise a service to commemorate the victims but the ministry has directed French expats to lie low for 72 hours, in the view of our personal safety. I was happy to see the solidarity shown by the world towards France. On Sunday morning, I was at a photography competition and the people gathered there observed a minute of silence for the victims of the terror attack. It was nice to see people supporting us,” he noted