ZCZC
BSP-27
FBL-WC-PARIS-CARILLON
‘Paris won’t die’: Scenes of joy at Paris bar targeted by terror
PARIS, July 16, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Striking images of World Cup celebrations
at a Paris bar targeted in the deadly November 2015 attacks ricocheted around
social media Monday, potent symbols of France’s resolve to not live in fear
despite a persistent terror threat.
At the Carillon bar in eastern Paris, fans crowdsurfed and barmen sprayed
champagne as “Les Bleus” closed in on their victory.
It was a welcome celebration for a country still reeling from the massacre
of 130 people enjoying a Friday night out three years ago, one of a wave of
attacks which have claimed nearly 250 victims.
“To be world champions here, it’s a symbol,” said Benoit Bardet, a young
IT consultant who is “not especially a football fan”, told AFP outside the
Carillon.
“Coming here with my mates was a way of remembering, and to show that
Paris won’t die,” he said.
The drinks flowed in a sea of blue, white and red, the national colours on
jerseys and flags being waved with abandon.
Many saw the World Cup victory as a chance to reverse the country’s
fortunes and help ease tensions, in particular in deprived urban areas where
large immigrant communities often complain of being treated as second-class
citizens.
“Seeing everyone all together in the street, it’s mad,” Ludovic Guaignant,
a technician wearing an Antoine Griezmann shirt, told AFP outside the bar.
“There aren’t any more problems, racism — everyone’s together. You only
get that with football.”
Emma Passama, her shoulders draped in a blue, white and red garland, also
felt it was her symbolic duty to come and celebrate here as a patron of the
Carillon bar.
“They have lost clients since the attacks, so this is a way of supporting
them,” she said.
“Plus, we aren’t getting stepped on like in the (Champ de Mars) fan zone!”
BSS/AFP/SG/ARS/1837 hrs