Afraid, the young people of Paris refuse to bow to terror

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The shootings and bombings in Paris on the evening of Friday November 13th targeted people – mainly young people – who had simply gone out to enjoy themselves. Two days after the killings Mediapart talked to pupils and students from the Paris region as they went back to school or university. Many spoke of their fear of being “in the wrong place at the wrong time” and are still struggling to make sense of the carnage. But they insist they are determined to carry on living their lives to the full. Mathilde Goanec, Dan Israel, Amélie Poinssot and Ellen Salvi report.

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Just like every morning, some arrived in groups, laughing and digging each other in the ribs; some were in a bad mood; while others were running because they were late. But on this Monday morning, November 16th, there was a difference: many of the pupils arriving at this private Catholic school, Saint-Michel-de-Picpus, in Paris's 12th arrondissement, were clutching a white rose in their hand. These were to be laid in the school's chapel in memory of Romain, 25, an English teacher and former supervisor in the collège – a secondary school for 11 to 16-year-olds - and a pupil's mother. Both were killed in Friday's terror attacks in Paris.

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