AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE IN PARIS
PUBLISHED : Monday, 16 November, 2015, 9:16am
UPDATED : Monday, 16 November, 2015, 9:16am
Armed police move in to secure the area as panic spreads at Place de La Republique in Paris on Sunday. The sounds of what was feared to be gunfire turned out to be firecrackers. Photo: AFP
Firecrackers and exploding light bulbs and heaters triggered scenes of panic in Paris, as rumours of fresh shootings sent people diving for cover and calling for police.
“We were just singing along with a group of young people when everyone started to run, so we ran too,” a 23-year-old who gave her name only as Laurine said on Sunday.
Along with hundreds of others, she had come to the Place de la Republique in central Paris to lay flowers and candles in memory of the 129 people killed in the neighbourhood in Friday's attacks.
But police said the reason for the panic was firecrackers.
A few blocks away there were similar scenes when a heater or a light bulb exploded on a terrace, sowing panic as passers-by warned friends on social media of a new attack.
At one cafe targeted by gunmen on Friday, “Le Carillon”, people shouted and ran.
A few hundred metres away, a few people even jumped into the cold waters of the Ourcq canal to escape the feared threat, a security agent said.
The mayor of the area, Christophe Girard, who was at Note-Dame cathedral attending a mass in memory of the 129 people who died in the attacks, said he received a text message saying there was “gunfire near the town hall”.
He left the cathedral to “reassure and calm local residents”, he said.
http://m.scmp.com/news/world/article/1879176/firecrackers-set-fresh-scenes-panic-parisians-run-cover-place-de-la
