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[Note: Authorities were reporting the death toll as 'at least 120' early on Saturday morning. The headline on this Liveblog was changed at 6.30am to reflect the latest figures. The rest of the information here has been left as it was in its last previous update. For the latest on the unfolding situation in France, click here]
PARIS HAS BEEN hit by a series of explosions and shooting incidents throughout the city tonight.
Police at least 118 people were killed during a hostage-taking at the Bataclan theatre, with at least 40 more dead in several separate attacks.
What we know so far:
The Department of Foreign Affairs has set up a phone line at 01-408-2000 for anyone worried about relatives or friends who not yet accounted for in Paris.
Any Irish in Paris can also contact the Embassy on +33144176700.
Paris police now say at least 26 people have been confirmed dead, and that a hostage-taking is under way at the Bataclan theatre on Boulevard Voltaire.
Soldiers on the streets of the French capital tonight:
A witness at the scene of the hostage-taking at the Bataclan theatre says “There was blood everywhere,” adds that the attacker used a pump-action shotgun.
Le Parisien now reports that at least 30 people have been confirmed dead.
The Associated Press reports that 100 people have been taken hostage at the Bataclan theatre, and that the death toll has risen to 35.
Spectators at tonight’s France-Germany football match are reportedly taking refuge inside the Stade de France.
AP are reporting that 35 people have been confirmed dead, with 100 hostages taken at the Bataclan theatre on Boulevard Voltaire in Paris
This video appears to indicate that one of the explosions at the Stade de France was audible inside the stadium.
The deputy mayor of Paris says it’s too early to conclude that the attacks are coordinated acts of terror – but says that it “looks that way”.
For those who may have loved ones in Paris at present, this is the number to call for the French embassy there
President Michael D Higgins and Taoiseach Enda Kenny have both expressed their shock and offered their condolences after tonight’s attacks.
President Obama to deliver a statement regarding the Paris attacks at 10.45pm Irish time.
French TV channel BFMTV is now reporting that the death toll has jumped sharply to 60.
This animated map shows the breadth of the attacks across Paris tonight.
President Obama has called the attacks tonight an “attack on all humanity”.
Meanwhile, Al Jazeera reports that more emergency services have arrived on the scene at the Bataclan theatre in the last few minutes, where some 100 people are being held hostage.
There are preliminary, unconfirmed reports that a certain number of hostages have escaped from the siege at the Bataclan theatre.
Obama: “We are reminded in this time of tragedy that the bonds of liberté, égalité and fraternité are not only values that the French people care so deeply about but they are values that we share. Those values are going to endure far beyond any act of terrorism or any hateful vision of those that perpetrated the crimes this evening.”
Police officers and rescue workers gather around a victim outside in the 10th arrondissement tonight.
Spectators invade the pitch of the Stade de France stadium
Sky News reporting that the hostages in the Bataclan theatre are being held by a young gunman, who may have explosive devices with him
Hollande:
“France must be strong and great… We also have to call on everyone to be responsible. What the terrorists want is to make us afraid, to seize us with fear. There is something to be afraid of… But we are a nation that can immobilise and once again can overcome the terrorists”
Residents of Paris are offering refuge to anyone stranded in the city tonight, using the #PorteOuverte (Open Door) hashtag:
One witness at the scene of the shooting near McDonald’s at around 9.30 pm says they passed the corner of Rue de la Fontaine-au-Roi and Rue du Faubourg du Temple saw four or five motionless bodies, in a “sea of blood.”
I saw four or five bodies littering the ground, in a sea of blood. The bodies, which were motionless, were on the ground under the terrace of the Le Phare brasserie…
Everyone was dazed and retreated into restaurants.
This video, from BFMTV, gives a sense of the extremely tense atmosphere on the streets of Paris tonight:
The three explosions outside the Stade de France earlier tonight have now been confirmed as one bombing and two suicide attacks.
There are preliminary reports of automatic gunfire being heard outside the hostage situation at the Bataclan theatre.
Le Figaro reports that police may have launched an assault on the Bataclan theatre, where up to 100 people are being held hostage.
One witness reports hearing “four very large explosions followed by gunfire.”
Statement from the Islamic Centre of Ireland condemns attack by “sick men with weapons and bombs.”
Reports on Twitter suggest that taxis in Paris are bringing people to their destinations for free at present.
Five routes on the Metro rail system have now been shut down.
This video appears to indicate that one of the explosions at the Stade de France was audible inside the stadium.
Police are storming the concert hall, according to AFP
French tv confirming a storming of the Bataclan theatre
One witness, apparently writing from inside the Bataclan hostage-taking described the scene as “carnage”, saying there were “bodies everywhere,” and victims were “cut down one by one.”
I am still at the Bataclan. First floor. Badly hurt. The attack was very quick. There are survivors inside. They slaughtered everyone, one by one…
Alive. Just cuts… Carnage… Bodies everywhere.
It has been announced that all schools and universities throughout Paris will be closed on Saturday.
Reports indicate the assault on the Bataclan theatre has ended, with two terrorists killed
This Facebook post from Eagles of Death Metal saying they’re still trying to find out if all the members of the band and their crew are safe:
The front page of tomorrow’s Libération newspaper:
BFMTV reporting a police source as saying there is “real carnage” at the Bataclan theatre.
AFP are now reporting that as many as 100 people may have lost their lives in tonight’s attacks in Paris.
Facebook currently has a tool in place for its users to inform their friends that they are alright following tonight’s attacks.
President Francois Hollande is on his way to the scene at the Bataclan theatre where around 100 hostages have apparently lost their lives
BFM are now reporting a provisional death toll of at least 112 dead.
Reports from police now suggest that three attackers were killed during the police raid on the Bataclan theatre.
Citing emergency services sources, Le Parisien is now saying that as well as the 100 killed in the Bataclan theatre siege, at least 44 people are confirmed dead, at six different points of attack throughout Paris:
1,500 soldiers have been mobilised on the streets of Paris.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan has just released this statement, in which he has offered his “deepest condolences and sympathy” to the French people.
Despite the horror of the Bataclan theatre siege, which ended in at least 100 deaths, some of those attending tonight’s concert did manage to escape alive.
The Associated Press has this raw footage of survivors being brought to safety earlier.
Aer Lingus have been tweeting to the effect that their schedule in and out of Paris tomorrow remains unchanged at present.
Some details of what happened in side the Bataclan theatre this evening are starting to emerge.
The death toll from the Bataclan now seems to be 118, a total of almost 160 dead overall.
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has called for unity among the French people, and expressed support for Francois Hollande, saying “terrorists have declared war on France.”
In the face of exceptionally serious terrorist attacks, my first thoughts go to the victims of these barbaric acts, their families, their loved ones, and the security forces who are showing exemplary courage.
In these tragic circumstances, the solidarity of all French people is essential. It is in this spirit that I support the decision taken tonight to declare a state of emergency and close the borders.
The terrorists have declared war on France. Our response must demonstrate grit and determination at every moment.
Speaking at the scene of the Bataclan theatre siege a short time ago, Francois Hollande vowed that the “fight against the attackers will be without mercy.”
US Secretary of State John Kerry, who speaks fluent French, has addressed his condolences to the people of France, in their own language.
I join with the President of the United States in condemning the terrorist attacks in Paris.
This is an attack on humanity and all freedom-loving people.
This map gives a comprehensive overview of the horrific breadth and scale of tonight’s carnage.
The Procureur de la Republique (state prosecutor) in Paris has confirmed that five terrorists were killed over the course of the night.
Guardian journalist Jon Swaine has captured this image of the French tricolour being shone from the top of One World Trade Centre in New York – the successor to the Twin Towers.
More evidence that tonight’s horror has effectively placed the city of Paris on lockdown.
All district offices, schools, museums, libraries, gyms, swimming pools, outdoor food markets, will be closed “from tomorrow,” and all planned protests or demonstrations are cancelled. Only marriages will continue to be conducted.
The Associated Press has this raw footage of French security forces storming the Bataclan theatre, and a number of seemingly shocked and dazed hostages emerging to safety.
The state prosecutor for Paris, Francois Molins, has warned that accomplices of tonight’s attackers – five of whom were killed – may still be on the loose, AFP reports.
Here’s a selection of Saturday’s front pages, which are understandably dominated by tonight’s horror in Paris.
Le Figaro’s headline is “War right in the middle of Paris.”
Libération has, simply, “Carnage in Paris.”
The national edition of the Le Parisien newspaper has “Terrorist massacre in the middle of Paris.”
La Voix du Nord leads with “Horror in Paris.”
Le Parisien has this detailed map of all tonight’s attacks.
From the Associated Press:
The Paris police prefect said the attackers at the Bataclan theatre blew themselves up with suicide belts as police closed in, killing four people.
He said the gunmen first sprayed cafes outside the venue with machine gunfire, then went inside the concert hall and killed more before the assault by security forces.
The prefect, Michel Cadot, said the one set of attackers was at the stadium and at nearly the same time the second group attacked within the city.
Cadot said all the attackers are believed dead, although authorities are hunting for any possible accomplices.
Witnesses to the Bataclan theatre massacre have been telling Libération exactly what happened.
(Translated).
The killers arrived about half an hour after the concert started, through the main entrance. They cut down everyone who was at the bar.
Then, we saw some movement in the pit. It was like a gust of wind in wheat field. Everyone was falling down – dead, injured and alive.
Even if you never had any experience of war, you understood right away what was going on. We followed a security guard…
…Two of us made it to the roof, and one in a room where he waited for police. We waited on the roof for two hours, around 50 of us.
We felt trapped like rats. There was shooting going on everywhere.
U2 have cancelled their concert in Paris on Saturday night, expressing their “shock and disbelief” at tonight’s attacks, and saying they were “devastated” by the massacre during the concert at the Bataclan.
Our in-depth coverage will begin again early on Saturday. But for now, here is a selection of images from Paris, on what has been an almost unbelievably horrific and tragic Friday night.
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Nothing Sam Smyth said was untrue. Everyone knows Lowry is one of the most corrupt
And yet he got re-elected. What does that say about his constituents?
Noddy what you say is so true, it beggars belief, what kind of people live in his constituency?
Is there no one else in all of that constituency that could be an honest politician and representative the people rather than looking after bo 1?
Now i’m no fan of Lowry by any stretch! And am fully aware what people think of him!
but i start to feel uneasy when Sam Smyth and others can breezily ramble about things that a tribunal after years were unable to prove!
i’m not saying it doesn’t stink! but that doesnt mean we can publicly go around stating these things as fact either.
the media have been wrong before in case we forget!! doesn’t Sam Smyth work for the same paper that said Liam Lawlor was with a prostitute in Russia?? do i need to go on with the list??
@Marguerite
The honest politician thing in your comment was joke of the year!!! Lol ;-)
@noddy “He built the road”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsnLyHKWtrg&feature=youtube_gdata_player
20 dislikes yet no one has anything to say in response?
Rob, I don’t know what you expect people to say.
You’re “uneasy” about journalists being able to make statements that the court have concluded and neither defamatory or untrue. Most people are perfectly happy for the press to be able to make true, un-defamatory statements about corruption in politics.
Not a fan of him either but I have a problem with the pot calling the kettle black! I am a North Tipperary constituent and I didnt vote form him for obvious reasons but having said all that he is the only politician in this area that actually gets things done plus you will see him regularly around talking to folks not like the the lot who I voted for and who only show up at election time and are now above in Dublin shafting us all.
@ D Burns, I still live in hope & believe that there is no alternative to democray.
Call me naive, idealistic but what we take for granted…..democracy many countries around the world are still hoping &/fighting for?
@Peter – it seems fairly clear to me that SS was in fact trying to imply other things from his words and in his article also – and wasn’t limiting his comments to the specific Dunnes payment which we all know did in fact happen.
genuinely i dont know who has more power in this country – the corrupt politicians or the media! the only thing i like about the politicans is that the people already dont trust them – yet we eat and drink what we’re fed in the media as if its gospel!
i accept your point though that the court decision makes it more of a fact that no one was defamed here.
I say it best when I say nothing at all ??
@Rob: You claim SS was “in fact trying to imply other things”.
1. On what basis do you claim this is factual?
2. SS didn’t imply anything: you drew an inference.
3. On what basis is this nonsense “clear”?
Your contribution offers nothing on SS or this case but rather a lot on your own presumptuousness. You commit the crime you wrongly accuse SS of.
@Biggins – u really about to tell me i’m the only one commenting on here on things that are more broad than SS and this case??
Someone mentioned that lowry was voted back as he got things done; and that is true in itself, but the ONLY reason that happened was that he was the 1 VOTE that the Ffing Failurs needed to pass whatever they were voting on at the time…………. so he bargained and got what he wanted for his vote…………
Is that white elephant of a casino complex still going ahead? I can’t believe a centre of gambling should be built anywhere in this country. Our society has been ruined enough by gambling; both in home where there are gambling addicts who can now do it online; don’t even have to leave the house; and of course we all know about the int’l gamblers currently affecting us…………….
A couple of commentators mentioned the press should be more cautious in their reporting; whilst I do agree that all reporting should be fair and accurate, these kind of things are usually commonly known amongst “the great and the good and the meeja” and are often hinted at in the press, but not really written or spoken about…… We ordinary people are of course kept out of that loop…………. we only get to pay for it….. ;-(
Interesting that Lowry didn’t join Independent or TV3 to the proceedings…
Lowry had contended that language used by Smyth on an episode of TV3′s Tonight with Vincent Browne on June 24, 2010 could be understood to mean that Lowry was a thief, corrupt, dishonest and an untrustworthy politician unfit to be a TD or minister.
Yes and his point
No red down thumbs yet, maybe the Irish people are finally recognising a corrupt pollie?
rob just because the tribunal couldn’t prove it makes no difference. we all know the truth. here is a shocker for you (i dont think bertie won that money on a horse) but i cant prove it
High Court judge confirms what the world already knew! Now, people of Tipp. North, do your bit to help cleanse Irish politics………..
and what about the rest of the counties LOL! All politicians are liers and power hungry scum. Lowery pissed off the wrong guys in power and he has been paying for it ever since. Not saying he is honest, he is most certainly not!
Will, I have to say that that’s exactly the sort of stance that allows corrupt politicians to get away with it.
I know from talking with voters in N Tipperary that those individuals, at least, continue to vote for Lowry because they think that all politicians are equally corrupt and that, by that logic, there’s *no point* in getting rid of Lowry because his replacement will be just as bad. He also plays on the idea that he’s being singled out and victimized by a hostile party leadership and is therefore ‘the little guy fighting for the people’.
But while it’s true that politics will always attract corruption the idea that all politicians are corrupt or even, if you like, *equally* corrupt -even if used scathingly against politicians – ultimately just creates a situation where corruption is considered normal and acceptable.
Hi Peter, just for the record I didnt vote for Lowery for obvious reasons like I said on one of the comments below. But the reason North Tipperary people vote for Lowery is not because of ‘better the devil you know’ but it’s because he just doesn’t appear at election time and magically disappears again; he is out and about all the time and believe it or not he is one of the few that actually gets things done around these parts!
He is a true gangster
Nice one, now we can all officially say that Lowry “got caught with his hands in the till” without fear of being sued for defamation.
It’s a good day for Irish journalism.
The Truth hurts Michael but suck it up
HA!!!!
I’m fuckin delighted!!!
Friday made. Hopefully that will be that.
The fact that Lowry could afford to hire legal counsel to bring a case like this to the High Court just shows how overpaid politicians are.
over paid by whom is the problem.
Hey Lowry, you suck. Happy Friday.
My Friday just keeps getting better, it’s a leap year, might be the best chance of getting Lowry imprisoned?
I thought in order to be defamed there has to be a communication of a statement that makes a claim, expressly stated or implied to be factual, that may give an individual, business, product, group, government, or nation a negative image. My opinion of Lowry hasn’t changed before or after the article
Hopefully this is the start for a lot of politicians getting dragged through courts and all the dirty laundry comes out for the public to see really who they are
We can dream!
The guy was involved the the whole idea of a multimillion casino in rural Tipperary as an idea to promote tourism! Come on get real!
Isn’t one of the easiest ways of laundering money is on the black jack tables or similar?
Why wouldn’t he want a casino in his back yard & to be the pollie to make it happen…well valhalla!
More muala!
Imagine the arrogance of this guy bringing anybody to court for mistruths. He couldn’t even be true to his wife and yet he stands up and legislates for the rest of us!! We are worse — but then again we have AA few like him eg Quinn, Healy Res, Flynn, etc.
Lowry is a fully paid up scumbag.
If only there was enough evidence to prosecute Lowry and O brien!! And then again, even if there was! Would the will exist to go after them?
No it wouldn’t. No appetite to chase his ilk in ths country, would open up a precedent, too many with too much to lose. We’re all being fooled, all of the time. We’re all fools.
A very sensible ruling from the Court. Various tribunals have cost the taxpayer probably a couple of billion. Much of that expenditure was unnecessary if various politicians had simply up their hands and admitted that many times they preferred putting out their hands. The government has run away from making any significant statements on the last tribunal report on the phone license. No wonder politicians feel safe from real scrutiny and accountability. Just look at how the ‘independent’ TDs soak up the unvouched 40k ‘leaders’ allowance each year. If you gross that up it is equivalent to about a 70k salary, throw in employer PRSI, etc. and the average small business would have to come up with 80k. Doubt if any of the soaks think about that.
The Mahon Tribunal created 17 millionaire lawyers………………..
completely agree with your post Adam and also the tone. It’s a disgrace that ANYONE can claim almost twice the national industrial wage, on top of a salary of almost 4 times the NIW ……………..
(as an aside: One of college friends moved to Dublin on a salary of 50k after graduation; her fiancée lived in W Cork so she drove down every Friday evening, back up Sun eve/Mon morning, lived in Dublin during the week, saved for a wedding & mortgage and lived her life – on her 50k salary. I find it VERY STRANGE that our TDs from W Cork need OVER 50k on top of salary to do much the same thing.)
Clearly, this man must be very socially adept and in possession of vast quantities of superficial charm. Otherwise, how could he keep on getting reelected?.
He obviously learned from the Charles Haughty School of Politics!
If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, well it must be aaa… not whats the word?
*NOW whats the word?
No different to Bertie Ahern getting elected over and over! It’s an Irish thing!!!
The majority of the defamation cases are heard by a jury in the High Court.
Lowry has not the courage to argue his case before twelve of the “plain people” – I wonder why!
“Lowry had contended that language used by Smyth on an episode of TV3′s Tonight with Vincent Browne on June 24, 2010 could be understood to mean that Lowry was a thief, corrupt, dishonest and an untrustworthy politician unfit to be a TD or minister.”
I guess some people hate the truth, huh?
Will hourihan, stop excusing illegal and corrupt acts.
Listen the ordinary people of Ireland, it makes no difference what we think or say “They” still get there obscene salaries and multiple pensions and are just laughing at us as they sit on the jacks content with themselves !
So, he has lied about his tax affairs. He was caught and showed no remorse. He seems to have an abundant supply of superficial charm. He appears glib and superficial. He does not appear to empathise with the ordinary people of Ireland. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I seem to remember that these psychological traits are reminiscent of a psychological disorder that is, at the
very least dangerous.
D
Traits
no
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