Excerpts from Associated Press in local time
4:40 p.m.
Social media is awash with public buildings lit up in the French colors of red, white as people globally expressed their solidarity with the French after deadly terror attacks in Paris.
Users of Twitter, Facebook and Instagram shared vacation photos, teardrops and a peace symbol with the Eiffel Tower as its center as they shared their grief over the tragedy.
People posted the poignant video of the Eiffel Tower — the beacon of the city of light — going to black in memory of the dead. They also offered montages of the hues of the Tricolor, the French flag, on to the Sydney Opera House in Australia, the Christ the Redeemer statue in Brazil and One World Trade Center in New York.
The images and sentiment, shared under hashtags #prayforparis or #parisattacks, mirrored the outpouring of emotion that followed the deadly Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris in January.
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5:30 p.m.
London’s Police chief says authorities will review their approach to a firearms attack following the tragic attacks in France and will put high-visibility patrols at key locations across the capital.
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe says the “scale of the attacks and the range of weaponry used by the terrorists are a serious cause for concern.”
However, Britain has refrained from raising its security level from “severe,” where it has stood since summer 2014, which means an attack is considered highly likely.
Hogan-Howe said in a statement Saturday that police are currently working on hundreds of active investigations and making an arrest a day on average.
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6:05 p.m.
The leaders of the European Union nations are calling for a minute of silence across the 28-nation bloc on Monday in memory of the victims of the Paris terror attacks.
In Saturday’s joint statement, the leaders say Europeans will always remember Friday, Nov. 13, “as a European day of mourning” and invited the EU’s 510 million people to mark their solidarity at noon Monday.
“This shameful act of terrorism will only achieve the opposite of its purpose, which was to divide, frighten, and sow hatred,” they said. “Good is stronger than evil. Everything that can be done at European level to make France safe will be done.”
They called Friday’s events “an attack against us all.” At least 127 people were killed and scores injured in the attacks Friday night. The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility.
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AP Wire
