General Chat

Regardless of all the comments etc, it was a case of someone who recognised the sound of the loading of the arms, being in the right place at the right time, just as the people who were killed in Shoreham were sadly in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Liz

I think the lady's comments may be referenced back to comments I have made on another thread, about the impact on nationals by immigrants from other countries.


On the other hand, the French have a great reputation for being about the rudest people, quite deservedly in many cases :-)

I do not have good memories of staff or volunteers at the Louvre in Paris some 20 years ago. :-(

French President Francois Hollande will present three Americans and a Briton with the country's top Legion d'Honneur medal on Monday in recognition of their bravery in stopping a gunman on a packed train, an Elysee source said.

A French citizen who also tackled the suspected jihadist, but wishes to remain anonymous, is to receive the honour at a later date, as will a Franco-American passenger recovering from being shot during the attack, the source told AFP.

The Legion d'Honneur, France's highest accolade, was created by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802 and is awarded in recognition of both civil and military achievements.

The train passengers are to be awarded the Chevalier de l'ordre national de la Legion d'Honneur, or Knight of the national Order of the Legion of Honour.

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel, US Ambassador to France Jane Hartley and members of France's government including Prime Minister Manuel Valls are all expected to attend the award ceremony.

Alleged gunman Ayoub El Khazzani opened fire on a Paris-bound train on Friday, injuring a man before being wrestled to the floor and subdued by Spencer Stone, Alek Skarlatos, Anthony Sadler and Briton Chris Norman.

The 25-year-old Moroccan national has denied that he intended to carry out a terror attack, claiming he only planned to rob the passengers on the train.

A spectacularly successful outcome on the train nonetheless. 'Walk on by' philosophy was not considered by those brave individuals.

Unfortunately, the UK is not totally free of such dastardly deeds. And we have to witness the other side of life here such as experienced by the public on a day-to-day basis: the shootings, stabbings, muggings, suicides, poverty, depression, robberies, fear, repossessions, bankruptcies, homelessness & bullying.

Still, let justified criticism continue even if it makes us temporarily feel better.

According the French news the rescuers were two Americans and one French. Again from the same source the railway staff bolted shut the wagon so that the gunman could not follow them or of course the passengers escape. SNCF, the French state monopoly railway company, said that it fully supports the actions of its staff.

By and large the French like the Americans including their army and certainly appreciate their tourist dollars. They are ambivalent about the Brits.

It is perhaps difficult to imagine but most French young people - under 35 that is - have only the sketchiest notions of the two world wars and the holocaust despite each and every one of them visiting Oradour-sur-Glane during their school career.

They are even less interested.

At least 10% of the French population are muslim. For the most part their lives are tough and poor. Most of the rest of the country tolerates them at best and at worst does all sorts of bad things. The state has shown no interest in integrating them into the 5th Republic.

It is not very difficult to see that the majority are not very keen on muslims and even les pieds noirs. In this enviroment derring do on the Thalys express plays very well so all the politicians are up for handing out medals and so on.

Not for the first time the security services are "aware" of some desperados but do nothing to stop them.

But what was the context?

they actually said what I quoted

It depends entirely on the context and I do agree with Rambling Rose.

We weren't there so we do not know what occurred.

As for the spokesperson - who was it and what were they actually saying?

better late than never though Rose :-D :-D

I don't think the spokesperson was speaking for everyone though? Any more than one person ever does....

and it is not entirely accurate to say no French were involved. From the BBC

"When a French passenger tried to enter a toilet, he encountered the gunman and tried to overpower him. It is thought this passenger may have since requested anonymity."

As to the train staff...well we all have our own survival instinct, I'm not entirely convinced that most of us would leap in if we were in that position? ... they are train staff, not police or military.

There's a school of opinion that the French were either 'passive' or collaborators during WW2...tell it to the French Resistance. :-D

Jolly brave of those who overpowered the gunman though, it's what I would expect from the US military of course...even though they get flak also for coming into WW2 'late'. ;-)

hmm - exactly :-D

WW1and WW2 and the train, perhaps it's because she wanted to distract us from asking - where were the French????????????? :-D

Female French spokesperson on BBC news this morning speaking of the above started by saying "we are not keen on American Military and British" - unbelievable for her to say that - they were pretty keen on us in WW2 so what changed that? :-S