Denied: Under apartheid, ?people presumed to be only ?of European descent were privileged above all other ?South Africans. (Gallo)
At least 100 people have been killed and dozens taken hostage in a wave of apparently co-ordinated attacks in the French capital late on Friday night, according to police and international media.
The attacks targeted a bar near the Stade de France football stadium, where France were playing Germany, a Cambodian restaurant in North East Paris and a packed concert hall near the offices of Charlie Hebdo, which was the target of a terrorist attack on January. According to early AFP reports, further attacks may have taken place at another four locations.
The French president, Françoise Hollande, was at the stadium when an explosion tore through the nearby bar, but was safely evacuated to the interior ministry, where he declared a state of emergency, closing borders and calling an emergency cabinet meeting. The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, called on citizens to stay indoors as security forces mobilised.
Police focused on the Bataclan concert hall where gunmen were holding hostage scores of people. Unconfirmed reports suggested the attackers were continuing to execute hostages.
AFP reported at 1.30am South African time that security forces had stormed the concert hall. Further reports from Reuters and BFM TV at 2am suggested that the police operation at the Bataclan had concluded, with two attackers dead and the remaining hostages freed.
At 2.20am AFP reported police sources saying that as many as 100 people had been killed at the concert venue alone.