h. nazan ışık—

14 November 2015—

Washington Square Park is one of the parks in New York City that brings musicians, chess players, children, and people who want to rest by the fountain, take pictures of the arch and enjoy cultural events. But this time, on 14 November, New Yorkers gathered at Washington Square Park to express solidarity with the people of Paris where following deadly attacks that have killed 129, injured 300 plus people.

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I arrived there at noon, and the park was full already. Wherever I looked I saw French flags, blue-white-red balloons.

About 2:00 pm Mayor Bill de Blasio came to the Park with French dignitaries, and Melissa Mark-Viverito, Speaker of the City Council. Mayor de Blasio placed a bouquet of white flowers on a memorial under the Washington Square Park Arch.

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“New York City stands together today with our sister city Paris.” said De Blasio, and added, “ We know we will be strong together. I would say simply, “Vive La France.”

And invited the Consul General to sing the French national anthem, La Marseillaise. The crowd joined him.

Mayor de Blasio later addressed the press about the terrorism, and reminded 9/11: “New York City, we can teach a lesson to the world because of what we went through on 9/11, fourteen years ago. The only answer to terrorism is to be resolute, to not allow the terrorists to change who we are. We must refuse to be terrorized. We won’t change our democracy. We won’t change our values. We won’t change our culture. We’ll stand firm and strong in the face of the challenge. […] we will never give in to terrorist threats.”

The Mayor continued: “ My advice (to French people) would be to stay strong and to continue, as much as possible, life as normal to send a message to terrorists that they cannot win.”

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Later as a French flag was hung from the Arch, the Washington Square Park Arch was lit up in blue, white and red in honor of those killed.

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