France to fall silent at midday

FRANCE will fall silent at midday today in memory of the 129 victims of last Friday’s fatal shootings in Paris.

The decision came from the government and affects all public places including schools and employers are invited to allow their workers to respect the minute’s silence.

A declaration from the European Union has invited people across Europe to join in and the UK government has also announced the minute’s silence which will be at 11am UK time.

Following some difficulties in schools during the minute’s silence after the Charlie Hebdo attacks in January, Education Minister, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem has written to teachers explaining that it should follow a moment of discussion in class to enable pupils to express themselves.

She told France Inter that teachers should act appropriately according to the age of the children and that four year olds for example could be allowed to draw during that time.

In France the first ever official minute’s silence was held on November 11, 1919 on the first anniversary of the armistice.

A law was passed to introduce the event and applied solely to the end of the First World War. In 2012 this was modernised to include “all deaths for France, in the past and today, civil and military.”

Today all public places must respect the minute’s silence including businesses, schools and administration centres. Public transport often stops as well as was the case for Charlie Hebdo on January 8 this year.

The tradition of the minute’s silence was begun in France but is followed in other countries, though in the UK it is longer, lasting two minutes and the USA observed three minutes of silence in the wake of the attack on the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001.

Peace for Paris pic.twitter.com/ryf6XB2d80— jean jullien (@jean_jullien) November 13, 2015