French President François Hollande declared a state of emergency, closing France's borders after a series of multiple terrorist attacks last night left dozens of people dead in central Paris.
The attacks, attributed to Islamic State terrorists, took place in separate locations across the city: Le Bataclan music venue where California-based band Eagles of Death Metal were playing; the sidewalk terrace of a cafe on Rue de Charonne; a pizzeria in the 11th arrondissement; Le Carillon, a bar-cafe, and the nearby restaurant Le Petit Cambodge and outside the Stade de France, where France was playing against Germany in a friendly football match.
The Bataclan was the scene of the deadliest attack: terrorists first sprayed cafes outside the concert hall with machine gunfire, then entered the venue and began shooting and taking hostages. According to some accounts, as the police forces closed in, three of the attackers detonated suicide vests, killing themselves and setting off explosions.
The unprecedented shooting rampage, explosions and mass hostage-taking left 128 people dead, though the death toll may be destined to rise as there are over 250 people injured (at the time of writing this post), some of them seriously. According to police reports, eight attackers also died, seven of them by detonating explosive suicide belts.
According to terrorism experts, the attackers planned to strike simultaneously yet at random on hip locations that were popular on a Friday night. The attacks, that follow the dramatic events at Paris' Charlie Hebdo and at a kosher supermarket in January, is considered as the bloodiest in Europe since the Madrid train bombing in 2004.
As world leaders condemned the assault and President Obama came to the White House briefing room to express solidarity, people started reacting on social media: fashion designer Jean-Charles de Castelbajac posted a sketch on his Facebook account portraying a young man and woman with a French tricolour flag in the background and the dedication "À la jeunesse de Paris – 14/11/2015" – "To the youth of Paris".
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