By Genesis Aguilar The world's most peaceful and romantic place on earth has recently undergone drastic changes. On November 13, 2015 Paris was attacked in three different locations and left many wounded and killed. The shooting and bombing left at least 129 people dead and hundreds wounded. According to the Paris chief prosecutor, Francois Molins, “three coordinated teams”, now known to be ISIS, appeared to be behind the attacks. President Francois Hollande described it as an “act of war” on their country. The attacks started at 9:20pm with the first bomb outside of the Stade de France, France’s national stadium. France was playing a friendly game of soccer against Germany when the first bomb went off outside the stadium. A man that was going through security was discovered to have a suicide belt and was detained at the entrance. Ten minutes after that, another man detonated his suicide vest outside of the stadium, which prompted the President to flee to safety. Twenty three minutes after the second bomb, the third bomb detonated at a McDonald’s near the stadium. As this was happening, there were also several shootings in downtown Paris in four different locations. The first one happened at 9:25pm in the 10th district at the rue Bichat, a restaurant; 15 people died, 15 were severely injured, and more than 100 bullets were shot. The second shooting was at 9:32pm at another diner, rue de la Fontaine-au-roi, near the first shooting; five people were killed and eight were severely injured. The third shooting happened at yet another restaurant, rue de Charonne, at 9:36pm on a neighboring street; 19 people were killed and 9 were left in critical condition. After this was the Bataclan Theatre Massacre, where 3 shooters entered the Bataclan theatre and killed 89 of the audience members. Around the same time, another terrorist self-detonated their explosive vest at Boulevard Voltaire, injuring 15 civilians. France lost many innocent lives that night. Paris is an extremely popular tourist spot with sights such as the Eiffel Tower, The Louvre, and the Arc de Triomphe. The November 2015 attacks not only affected the culture of this beautiful city, but also the economy. The Stade de France experienced extensive damage, which will cause the country a lot of money. The attacks left a sense of fear in the citizens of the country and the rest of the world, which will affect the amount of tourism that this legendary city receives. With the combination of decreasing tourism and damage repair, France is still recovering. Many French citizens are scared of being attacked again, so the country is on alert in case something like this happens again. Like their President, Francois Hollande, said, the attacks on November 2015 were an “act of war” and that’s what they’re expecting to get. All around the world, different countries started to light up their famous monuments with the colors from France’s flag to show their support. The United States, who is allies with France, lit the white house up with red, white and blue. President Barack Obama visited France to show his support and respect. A quote that I found quickly spreading on social media reads, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” Paris is supposed to be the city of love, and the tragic attacks did not change that. The world has to look to the future if we want to overcome this. Social media played a big role in connecting the world during these rough times. Snapchat added several filters to show support, and many people showed their support and prayers through Twitter and Instagram. The attackers in Paris were identified as Islamic extremists. Recently, there has been many terrorist attacks around the world led by Islamic extremists, such as the San Bernardino shooting. While many terrorist groups, such as ISIS, have been taking thousands of lives, not all Muslims are terrorists. There are good Muslims and there are bad Muslims, just like there are good Americans and bad Americans. While religious extremists must be put to an end, the religion as a whole should not be attacked. The world must come together to put an end to these devastating attacks, but at the same time prevent Muslim discrimination.
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