Paris prosecutor Francois Molins confirmed on Tuesday the militants had been plotting to attack La Defense on November 18.
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“They were France. They were shot dead because they were freedom”, Hollande said of the victims.
Two people detained for questioning after searches in the eastern town of Verviers – where two jihadists were killed in a gunbattle with police in January – were released on Friday, the prosecutor said.
“What do the terrorists want?” To divide us, to turn us against each other.
A top French official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to discuss the issue publicly, said Hollande “remains totally committed to this event and we are now conciliating it with an extraordinarily busy schedule”.
Belgium reduced the terrorism alert in Brussels from its highest possible level yesterday after Prime Minister Charles Michel said the threat of a Paris-style jihadist attack was no longer as imminent.
“At this very serious and painful moment when the nation is in mourning I would like to address our compassion… to the families”, said Hollande. After the music, pictures of the victims, the majority of whom were under 25, were shown on a giant screen as their names and ages were announced.
A minute’s silence followed, broken by the melancholic strains of a solo cellist, playing Bach’s Sarabande.
National ceremony commemorating victims of the attacks was held on Friday at the National Residence of the Invalids in Paris.
The lyrics of iconic singer Jacques Brel echoed through the court of Honour of the Invalides. It was an unusual act for a people not accustomed to displaying the national flag at home.
But two more men, including key suspect Belgian-born French national Salah Abdeslam, are still on the run as a huge manhunt continues in France and Belgium. On this occasion, there was no controversy.
“When the French President asks me to think hard about what more we can do, then it is a responsibility for us to think hard about it”, Merkel told journalists on Wednesday.
The speech was dedicated above all to the dead and France’s young.
But one victim’s family – who refused to attend – called for a boycott of the service, angry at what they see as the collective failure of the French government and security services to prevent the attacks. We will not change; we are united on the most basic principles. The outpouring of love from around the world has been a great comfort to us and makes us even more proud to have had Nick as our son.
“They represented life, and it is because they represented life, that they were killed”.
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The ceremony began with the president’s arrival on a cold and misty day to the sound of the national anthem La Marseillaise being played by the Republican Guard.
