November 13th: One year later life in public places
Today is a day of infinite sadness. We commemorate the victims of November 13th terror attacks, which were unfortunately neither the first since January 2015, nor the last.
Like many, I remember my life on that day: 13/11/2015 was the day of kindness in France (for a few years. This day has of course been changed since). I woke up in the middle of the night on early Saturday morning as it happens to me almost every night, I glanced at my phone and there, stupor, there was some breaking news about terror attacks at Bataclan and at Stade de France. There was also some news about closure of all French borders, and my husband was about to flight back home from a trip to the United States that night. Would he be able to come back home? On Sunday morning we were about to go to Paris to see my little niece born 10 days earlier. Was it reasonable to go to Paris then?
The next morning I told my children that there had been terror attacks in Paris. I believe that it is better to speak to them in selected words, knowing that they will necessarily hear about it at school. I remember my then four-and-a-half-year-old son asked me “and Daddy died?” I was shocked, I thought I had clear words, but maybe not.
I remember thinking of my family and friends who live in Paris and suburbs, knowing that they could have been in the area of the terror attacks the night before. I remember thinking that terrorists (in fact the terrorist S. Abdeslam as we learned later) drove back by the Lille highway, very close to us, to return to Belgium.
President of the Republic and Prime Minister spoke of war. I remember that it awakened in me other memories of the imminence of brutal and unjust death. I remember rethinking about the war between Iran and Iraq during bombing periods of the two capitals, Tehran and Baghdad, and the anxiety that I felt. I remember being sheltered at home in a space under the stairs, knowing clearly that if a bomb fell on us, this shelter was vain and derisory. My parents took us with them when they went to see the buildings bombed a few blocks from us (today, as parents, we would certainly not, but other times, other habits …). And some time later, I had unexplained stomach ache to make me bend in 2 at nightfall. After consultations with specialists and some medical examinations, it turned out that it was “just” an intense anxiety (the bombings happened more often at night) … I remember that even when we moved to France, for several months (or maybe several years?) at every door slam the whole family jumped as if we heard again the explosion of bombs …
Today, beyond the sincere compassion we feel for the victims of November 13th and subsequent attacks, we all live with the fear of a new terror attack. It seems that the authorities are afraid of terror attacks in schools. As a parent, it makes me shudder. And as with gun violence in the United States, I especially try not to think too much about it.
I am grateful to the police and the military for their efforts to protect us from this possibility. And I would like us, as citizens, to be able to something to help them. But I do not think that purse searches and other identity checks by security guards contribute to it.
Indeed in the aftermath of the terror attacks of November 13th it was necessary to open his bag before the vigils that following these events had been hired in some big stores and public places. Already I was wondering what it was for, unless a terrorist was damn amateur to 1) have a weapon or an explosive device in his bag 2) do not see a security guard searched the bags 3) open his bag in front of the fellow guard. These searches wouldn’t produce many results. But the emotion of the moment brought us all to feel reassured by these derisory measures. Unfortunately, following terror attacks showed that their mode of operation changed regularly.
But a year after the situation is still as confusing and the measures seem as derisory. Indeed some days in some public places you are asked to open your bag and purse. But not in a systematic way. Sometimes the vigil is chatting with someone, or looking inside a bag, and you pass by without being asked to stop or wait.
At the Conservatory of Music where my children go, shortly after the terror attacks you needed to open not only your bag but also the bags of music instruments. Then nothing. A few weeks ago, for a few days it was necessary to pass in a marked way delimited by security cordons, but without any bag searches. Then it stopped again.
At the end of fall holidays, my children’s Fall Camp organized an open-door one afternoon for parents as it did every year. This time at the entrance we were asked show an ID (although we had not been warned). My husband did not have his on him. So he was only asked to show his healthcare ID (with his name on it but without a photo ID)! But even a proper ID does not constitute a bulwark for me! I remember that after some terror attacks, at least 2 terrorists had been identified by their IDs on them, so that even terrorists can have their IDs with them!
Finally a week ago we arrived on Saturday morning at Extracurricular Activities Center where my daughter goes for swimming. We have a weekly “parent / child workshop” there she and me. My husband deposits us there. But a few days ago we were given a non-nominative yellow card simply with the Center’s logo on it. Nothing could be simpler than xerox it … We had forgotten the card. So the guard who just watched people pass with their non-nominative (and easily forged) cards came out of his shelter and asked for our ID … which we had left in our car in the parking lot pretty far away. He asked us to go to the Front Desk and followed us to make sure that we would effectively get there … Meanwhile, another 15 people came inside the Center (this was rush hour) without anyone checking their card! And at the front desk we were given a new card, without any ID check!
Obviously if we were prevented from coming inside we would have protested and been unhappy … wrongly, since security should pass before everything. At the same time when the guard sees a couple with a 3 year old child who clings to your neck, he can assume that they are indeed parents and children … And then what is the consistency of following a couple with a child by leaving the entry free for all the others? Would not it have been better to have 2 guards at the entrance for this kind of case? Or give written and clear instructions to all rather than distribute a few days ago cards to everyone in a hurry?
The only places I have visited, which in my opinion are currently well protected in Lille are the Police Department and the City Hall of Lille. Indeed there are policemen at the entrance of each and it is necessary to pass under a portico.
Bag and purse checks surely will not stop someone determined. They could at most dissuade amateurs … Why not, but then it would require coherence and systematic searches. For now I have more the feeling that safety measures are just supposed to reassure us. And it doesn’t reassure me at all.
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