French President François Hollande has announced additional resources to support victims and combat terrorism at an annual commemoration ceremony in Paris.
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Hollande, who has previously said that counter-terrorism measures were prioritised over spending cutbacks to meet targets reducing the public deficit, made the comments at a memorial ceremony for victims of attacks.
The names of the victims of attacks carried out by Islamic extremists a year ago in Paris and in July in Nice have been read on Monday during the ceremony, which also remembered those killed in attacks in Brussels, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast and Mali.
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls (C-bottom) and French President Francois Hollande (C).
“Our country had never been attacked to this extent, with such destructive rage, with such barbarian cruelty”. But in the wake of an attack in Nice, France, in July that killed 86 people, many say that Hollande has not done enough to protect the public. But she could not give further details about the boy linked to Saturday’s hoax. Other attacks have included the killing of a policeman and his partner as well as a priest this summer.
France has suffered a spate of deadly attacks in recent months by Islamic extremists, including the July 14 truck attack in Nice that left 86 dead and the November 13 attacks in Paris that killed 130 people.
Yasmine Marzouk, a Muslim woman who survived the Nice attack but lost three family members that day, lamented the fact that “these criminals attacked that day a republican symbol, especially children who represent France’s future, and families – symbols of tolerance, cohesion, and love”.
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Monday’s ceremony will be attended by Nicolas Sarkozy and Alain Juppe, both of whom have their sights on France’s presidency next year.
