Politic?

People Living Together

"There are people who lost friends. There are people who survived the attack who are here."
"It's a place [his restaurant, La Belle Equipe] filled with life, this little corner. Of course we think of the dead. They are always there. It's forever."
"The scene is no longer running non-stop. I am no longer seeing the last 20 minutes with the mother of my daughter. I was holding her hand. We couldn’t revive her. We couldn’t do anything more. She asked me to take care of our daughter, and I promised I would."
"All of us lost someone — a friend, a spouse, a partner. I lost all of that, like many of you."
Gregory Reibenberg, Paris, 11th arrondissement, Paris

Djamila Houd (Courtesy)

"I arrived by car and the first thing I saw was my best friend Gregory holding his dying wife."
"I think of the people who were killed, not the killers. They do not even deserve to be talked about. The victims are in my heart. Today, I think all of France knows them ... Today, we cry for our dead."
Youssef Boudjema

"You [eight-year-old daughter of Gregory Reibenberg and Djamila Houd] look at a star and you say, Mommy is there, and you talk to her."
Losing a parent at 91 years, we can understand, but for this we are not prepared. People say why him, why my son? Why the girl from La Belle Equipe who was about to get married?"
"[The world is a wonderful place] Not today, but tomorrow. Tomorrow is hope."
Jean-Pierre Vouche, psychologist

Two days following the atrocities in Paris memorials took place. Gregory Reibenberg, a Jewish Parisian, proceeded through the streets leading to his restaurant, along with a procession of friends. In his hand, a white rose. Two days earlier two men erupted from a car and raising machine guns, sprayed all the people who were enjoying a night out on the patio outside the restaurant, with a rain of bullets. Djamila Houd, Gregory Reinbenberg's wife was among those killed.

As she died he held her, telling her of his undying love, and not to fear for their daughter's future. The sidewalk terrasse, full of diners when the terrorists struck, became a scene of flesh and blood seeping out of nineteen innocent people whom death took by surprise. Youssef Boudjema, a close friend of Gregory Reibenberg lost a dozen friends. And the psychologist Jean-Pierre Vouche who took part in Sunday's march, another friend, gave solace to the eight-year-old girl who had just lost her mother.

A man who owns a grocery and cheese shop not far from the restaurant heard gunshots and ran to see what had occurred, discovering a nightmare had descended. People were wounded and dying and he attempted to give first aid, tourniquets applied, and a lifetime passed of 20 desperate minutes of life draining away until paramedics arrived and took the initiative to save whom they could.

"Even if they tell us to stay home, Paris is still standing. Life continues and we have to celebrate it while remembering the dead", said Eric Mbwaki, visiting the Bell Equipe, paying respects. "It was a declaration of war. But we can't be afraid. They want us to be afraid of Arabs, of Muslims, of foreigners, but we can't let them get into our heads", averred a school teacher whose apartment is a few blocks from the restaurant.

Two sisters, Halima and Hodda Saadi, daughters of Muslim immigrants from Tunisia were among the dead. "This neighbourhood is about people living together, about diversity working well. That is what has been attacked" said another neighbour. "There were three birthdays, including my sister’s. They came and started shooting everyone inside and outside. I lay on the ground on my stomach hoping to avoid the bullets. When I heard that there was no more shooting, I raised my head, but they started shooting again, so I hid again", explained Khaled Saadi.

Sunday, Nov. 15, 2015, Khaled Saadi, 27, left and Abdullah Saadi,

38. Khaled Saadi was working in La Belle Equipe restaurant, where his sister was

celebrating her birthday, when the attackers assaulted the cafe. 35-year-old Halima

died on the spot. 36-year-old Hodda was severely wounded and barely

breathing, and Saadi did everything he could to try to save her. In vain.

(AP Photo/Kamil Zihnioglu)

"My first move was to look for my two sisters. So I found the first one, Halima Saadi. She died on the spot. And my second sister Hodda, I tried to save her. I moved her with a friend of hers named Sam. We moved her to another restaurant nearby, and then we did the same for my other sister", explained a grieving Khaled. “The people who do this, they kill Muslims, they kill everyone."

"We are all inhabitants of this, people, and we need to fight for each other and help each other. There were black people, Arabs, Jews there. All of us were hit. So we are all in the same boat", said another brother, Abdallah Saadi.