Hollande, Paris mayor visit sites on anniversary

French President Francois Hollande and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo are visiting each site struck by Islamist extremists in the capital on the night of Nov. 13, 2015 to commemorate the anniversary of the attacks that killed 130 people.

In silence, Hollande is pulling French flags from plaques commemorating the victims at five bars and restaurants, the Bataclan concert hall and the national stadium, where the first attack occurred as the president watched a France-Sweden soccer match. The names of the victims were being read out at each site, ABC News reported on Sunday.

There were no deaths at the Comptoir Voltaire brasserie except for suicide bomber Brahim Abdeslam, a 31-year-old Frenchman. He was the older brother of Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor among the three attack teams and who is now jailed in France.

Hollande has opened a national day of commemoration in France, one year after the Paris attacks that killed 130.

Hollande unveiled a plaque covered by a small French flag at the national stadium in memory of the single person killed there, Manuel Dias, and the numerous wounded.

Hollande remained silent at the ceremony outside the Stade de France and he wasn't expected to speak as he unveils plaques at the seven sites hit by Islamic extremists.

Instead, the victim's son Michael spoke, saying his Portuguese-born father was "proof that integration is possible, necessary" to fight the stigmatization that leads some youth into violence.

It was a reference to the attackers who were European citizens of foreign descent. He said: "Long live tolerance, long live intelligence, long live France".

Source: MENA