Deadly Bombing in Paris
I've received the following report from independent French journalist Hélène Keller-Lind, who has corresponded with Snapped Shot in the past. (Any mistakes contained within are certainly due to my insufficient editorial skills.)
Deadly Bombing in Paris
Hélène Keller-Lind, 6 December 2007
PARIS—An office on the fourth floor of a building in the 8th district of Paris was struck by a bomb at around noon today. According to Jean-Claude Marin, the public prosecutor for Paris, the motives as well as the suspects are still unknown.
What is known so far is that a package with two homemade bombs—at least, as far as the explosives are concerned—was delivered to a lawyer’s office on the 4th floor of the building, located on Boulevard des Malesherbes. The bomb detonated when a secretary at the law office opened the package, killing her and critically injuring a lawyer who was standing nearby.
Deadly Bombing in Paris
Hélène Keller-Lind, 6 December 2007
PARIS—An office on the fourth floor of a building in the 8th district of Paris was struck by a bomb at around noon today. According to Jean-Claude Marin, the public prosecutor for Paris, the motives as well as the suspects are still unknown.
What is known so far is that a package with two homemade bombs—at least, as far as the explosives are concerned—was delivered to a lawyer’s office on the 4th floor of the building, located on Boulevard des Malesherbes. The bomb detonated when a secretary at the law office opened the package, killing her and critically injuring a lawyer who was standing nearby.
The injured lawyer was transferred to a nearby hospital, and his condition is currently unknown. Ten other people in the building were injured by the blast. According to eyewitness accounts, people were reportedly exiting the building covered in blood, illustrating the viciousness of the bombers. One can only wonder how much worse things would have been had both of the bombs detonated.
Another lawyer with the firm, said that he could not understand why it was targeted by the bombers, as the firm specializes in real estate and family law.
The motives become somewhat more interesting when one considers that this particular building also houses the Foundation for the Memory of the Shoa, a Holocaust memorial group, also on the 4th floor.
On the first floor, another law firm was co-founded by President Nicolas Sarkozy in 1987. But, according to reports, the Elysée Palace insists that there is no connection between the bombing and the law firm in which Nicolas Sarkozy was a partner, and points out that the firm was not on the same floor as the offices that were specifically targeted.
These denials aside, it should be noted that a vicious campaign is being led against Sarkozy on the internet, spearheaded by the website Tout Sauf Sarkozy (“Everything but Sarkozy,” www.toutsaufsarkozy.com), which accuses President Sarkozy of doing the bidding of Israel and the United States. The site has continued to hurl vicious insults and unflattering cartoons at the French President and other membners of the French government. It should be noted that much of the abuse hurled at these politicians is anti-Semitic in nature.
One of the most prominent online critics of President Sarkozy is a group called Generation Palestine, which is allied with what is described as “the pro-Palestinian platform,” an assorted group of leftists, anarchists, and trade unions. While this alliance claims to be pro-Palestinian, in reality it tends to be exclusively anti-Israeli by nature. The alliance includes such supporters as Thomas Hollande of the Movement of Young Socialists (MJS), who is the son of Ségolène Royal, the Socialist candidate who ran against Nicolas Sarkozy in the last election, and François Hollande, the National Secretary of the French Socialist Party.
While the details are not fully known at this point, the possibilities are certainly quite intriguing.
Another lawyer with the firm, said that he could not understand why it was targeted by the bombers, as the firm specializes in real estate and family law.
The motives become somewhat more interesting when one considers that this particular building also houses the Foundation for the Memory of the Shoa, a Holocaust memorial group, also on the 4th floor.
On the first floor, another law firm was co-founded by President Nicolas Sarkozy in 1987. But, according to reports, the Elysée Palace insists that there is no connection between the bombing and the law firm in which Nicolas Sarkozy was a partner, and points out that the firm was not on the same floor as the offices that were specifically targeted.
These denials aside, it should be noted that a vicious campaign is being led against Sarkozy on the internet, spearheaded by the website Tout Sauf Sarkozy (“Everything but Sarkozy,” www.toutsaufsarkozy.com), which accuses President Sarkozy of doing the bidding of Israel and the United States. The site has continued to hurl vicious insults and unflattering cartoons at the French President and other membners of the French government. It should be noted that much of the abuse hurled at these politicians is anti-Semitic in nature.
One of the most prominent online critics of President Sarkozy is a group called Generation Palestine, which is allied with what is described as “the pro-Palestinian platform,” an assorted group of leftists, anarchists, and trade unions. While this alliance claims to be pro-Palestinian, in reality it tends to be exclusively anti-Israeli by nature. The alliance includes such supporters as Thomas Hollande of the Movement of Young Socialists (MJS), who is the son of Ségolène Royal, the Socialist candidate who ran against Nicolas Sarkozy in the last election, and François Hollande, the National Secretary of the French Socialist Party.
While the details are not fully known at this point, the possibilities are certainly quite intriguing.
See-Also:
TIME (guess who they're in a rush to exclude?), AP
Why is the article dated "29 December"? Should that be November?
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