Hundreds gather in Paris in memory of slain Kenyan students
Source: France 24
Kenyan flags waved in the breeze over Paris’s Place de la République Wednesday as several hundred people gathered for a memorial service for the 148 Kenyan people, mainly students, killed last Thursday by al Shabaab militants.
It took more than 15 minutes for attendees to read aloud the names of 112 of the 148 victims of the massacre, which occurred when gunmen from al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab opened fire on the campus of Garissa University College last week. Afterwards, a minute of silence was held for the victims not yet identified.
© Brenna DALDORPH I Salma Ahmed, Kenya's ambassador to France, thanks attendees at a memorial in Paris' Place de la République on Wednesday for vicitms of last week's attacks on a university in Garissa, Kenya.
Organiser Baki Youssoufou said it was a way to humanise the victims.
“In the media, we’ve been seeing 148 died -- not even 148 people died,” Youssoufou said. “We decided to read the names of the children killed so that the tragedy would hit home. When you read the name Jessica, for example, it resonates because there are people named Jessica living in France.”
Read more: http://www.france24.com/en/20150409-paris-france-garissa-kenya-memorial-republique/
Many people at Wednesday’s Garissa memorial carried signs proclaiming "Je suis Kenyan", a reference to the #JeSuisCharlie hashtag popularized after the January attacks.
Sometimes, I'm blown away by my fellow French people's humanity. They really DO care. So many of them.
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