Public invited to hang out flags

PRESIDENT François Hollande is inviting everyone to put out Tricolore flags outside their homes on the morning of Friday November 27 when a ceremony will be held to mark the deaths in the Paris terrorist attacks.

The official ceremony ‘of national homage’ starts at 10.30 at Les Invalides in Paris and President Hollande will make a speech in honour of the victims.

The location – the Cour d’honneur of Les Invalides – was chosen by the president and prime minister as “the most solemn and republican of settings”.

The event is still being planned but it is expected that members of the national guard will carry portrait photographs of those who were killed.

Families of the victims have been invited and more than 1,000 are expected to attend. For anyone who cannot be there, President Holland suggests putting out flags as a mark of respect – for example hanging them from windows.

That way, everyone can “take part by putting out the blue, white, red – the colours of France – at their home”, said government spokesman Stéphane Le Foll.