Attack on Nice: in front of the Notre-Dame basilica, anger mingles with meditation
Tribute outside the Notre-Dame de l'Assomption basilica, in Nice, on October 30, 2020, the day after the knife attack that killed three people.
Valery HACHE / AFP
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
In the aftermath of the Nice attack, hundreds of people came to lay flowers or candles in front of the Notre-Dame de l'Assomption basilica.
But already, emotion and unity are gradually giving way to fear and exasperation.
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With our special envoys in Nice
,
Pierre Olivier
and
Marc Fichet
On the steps, hundreds of white flowers.
Despite the re-containment in France, everyone found a moment to come and pray at the foot of the Notre-Dame basilica, the scene the day before a
knife attack that killed three people
.
“
We have the certificates, we have everything.
We went out on purpose, we don't live very far.
We still had to show that we were there and that we were not afraid,
”says a local resident.
“
I had to go to the post office, and then there I said,
'I'm going to buy a little flower.'
And I'm going to drop a little flower,
”continues a passerby.
But past the emotion, anger is often palpable and Muslims are singled out.
“
We must stop the crossing at our borders.
It is true that we are a country where there have always been different cultures that have come.
But there comes a time when they don't want to join our culture,
”says one man.
"We will pay the consequences"
“
In fact, they're on our soil and I don't see why they would impose their way on us.
I lived in Tunisia.
When was at home, they were not told to take off their veils.
We were at their place.
When it didn't suit us anymore, we left, that's all
!
», Estimates a lady who came to meditate.
Yet this Friday, October 30, in front of the basilica, many
Muslims
were also present, such as Ibrane, 18 years old.
“
There are about 7 million Muslims in France and there are unfortunately a few people who call for terror and hatred.
We will pay the consequences.
And I, as a Muslim, I bring all my support and my love to my other compatriots who are not of Muslim faith
”, confides the young man.
A call for unity that did not seem to be the priority of many Nice people who came to meditate in front of the basilica.
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