Saturday, November 14, 2015

World leaders, citizens show solidarity after Paris attacks

How the world reacted to Europe’s deadliest attacks since the 2004 Madrid bombings was captured on social media.

Tweets of sympathy, solidarity and news, as well as reactions from world leaders filled Twitter and Facebook feeds after eight terrorists opened fire and detonated suicide belts in locations throughout Paris Friday night, killing at least 127 people and injuring roughly 200 more.

Facebook customized its safety check feature to let users know whether their friends and loved ones in Paris were safe. The social network asks users, “Are you in the affected area?” and allows people to answer, “Yes, let my friends know.”

Mark Zuckergerg posted an update on Facebook Friday night: “My thoughts are with everyone in Paris tonight. Violence like this has no place in any city or country in the world. We’ve activated Safety Check, so if you’re in Paris you can mark yourself safe or check on your friends and family: http://ift.tt/1MIMpX6s”

“Most people have likely seen Facebook’s safety check for the first time today,” Variety reported, “but the company actually launched it in response to the Nepal earthquake earlier this year.”

Paris’ police department tweeted information and hotline numbers in the wake of the attack. On Saturday, it also tweeted closings and announced that there was a ban on all street demonstrations:

Arrêté portant interdiction des manifestations sur la voie publique à Paris et dans les départements 92 93, 94. https://t.co/e4jSCgHtCb

Though the official Paris Twitter account and schools such as Académie de Paris tweeted closings, many brand accounts—including Disneyland Paris and French automaker Peugeot—remained silent across social media channels. Disneyland Paris issued a statement on its website, however, announcing its closing “given the gravity of the events in France.”

French President François Hollande issued a state of emergency after the attacks and shut down the country’s borders, saying “there is indeed reason to be afraid.”

Pierre Briançon, a senior writer at Politico Europe, noted the grim echo of the terrorist attack on the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in January.

Hollande blamed Islamic State for the attacks in his address and vowed to defeat the terrorists. He also said, “we must also show unity and calm”:

This is a terrible ordeal which once again assails us.

We know where it comes from, who these criminals are, who these terrorists are.

In these difficult moments, we must - and I’m thinking of the many victims, their families and the injured - show compassion and solidarity. But we must also show unity and calm.

Faced with terror, France must be strong, it must be great and the state authorities must be firm. We will be. We must also call on everyone to be responsible.

What the terrorists want is to scare us and fill us with dread. There is indeed reason to be afraid. There is dread, but in the face of this dread, there is a nation that knows how to defend itself, that knows how to mobilise its forces and, once again, will defeat the terrorists.

Shortly after Hollande’s address, ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks, issuing statements in Arabic and French.

International leaders stand together

The attacks forced political leaders—and the communicators who write for them—to become a voice for public grief and outrage. President Barack Obama said the series of terror attacks unfolding in Paris were attacks “on all of humanity.”

“We’ve seen an outrageous attempt to terrorize innocent civilians,” he said. “This is a heartbreaking situation.”

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell tweeted, “The American people stand with the people of France, our strong ally and partner, as they face these horrific attacks.”

From its headquarters in Brussels, NATO retweeted Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg’s expression of shock over the attacks.

On Saturday, leaders from across the world offered sympathy and stated their solidarity with France.

Germany’s interior minister, Thomas des Miziere, said in a statement that he offered France “the help of German Special Forces.” British Prime Minister David Cameron, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave statements and tweeted support:

Red, white and blue—the colors of the French flag—were projected onto iconic monuments in cities around the globe, including the Sydney Opera House, San Francisco’s city hall, the White House in Washington, D.C., London’s Tower Bridge, Cristo Redentor in Rio de Janerio and 101 building in Taipei.

Signs of solidarity throughout the world

Government leaders and officials weren’t the only ones using social media to spread information and offer assistance.

Several Parisians used Periscope and Vine to show both viewers in Paris as well as people throughout the world a real-time view of what was happening in the city:

Parisians also took to Twitter to offer shelter for those stranded in the city under the hashtag #PorteOuverte, or, “open door”:

The #PorteOuverte hashtag spread to Twitter users in Europe and the United States, who offered beds, couches and food to stranded Parisians. In the U.S., the hashtag #StrandedinUs trended with similar offers:

Many users tweeted the numbers of French embassies throughout the world, along with a list of hotlines for victims and those with information:

Russell Working contributed to this article.

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