Springfield News-Sun

Harris ends France trip with flowers for 2015 attack victims

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PARIS — U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris laid flowers at a Paris memorial to mark the anniversar­y Saturday of Islamic State attacks that killed 130 people in the French capital six years ago.

Her stop at the Le Carillon bar, one of multiple nightspots and sites attacked by gunmen and suicide bombers on Nov. 13, 2015, closed out a four-day fence-mending trip to France.

Accompanie­d by her husband, Doug Emhoff, Harris laid a bouquet of ivory flowers at the foot of a victims’ memorial and spoke to people inside the bar. On its counter, 13 candles in the French colors of blue, white and red had been lit.

Nine Islamic State gunmen and suicide bombers struck within minutes of one another in 2015, targeting the national soccer stadium, cafes filled with people, and the Bataclan concert hall — site of the worst carnage with 90 dead. It was the deadliest violence to strike France since World War II and among the worst terror attacks to hit the West.

This year’s commemorat­ions come amid a mammoth trial in Paris for 20 men accused of carrying out the bloodshed or of assisting the attacks. The trial opened in September and has heard weeks of searing testimony from survivors and first responders.

French officials also held a series of commemorat­ions Saturday at the attack sites.

Harris’ trip was part of a sustained effort by Washington to mend relations with France, America’s oldest ally, that were rocked by a secretly negotiated U.s.-british submarine deal with Australia that led to a prior deal with France being scrapped.

Harris said on Saturday before her departure that the “very productive” trip would be followed with more work.

“This trip was about, of course, making clear the long-standing relationsh­ip, but also that as we go into a new era for the world, that our work will continue,” she said.

 ?? NEW YORK TIMES ?? U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband lay flowers at a memorial to Paris terror victims.
NEW YORK TIMES U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband lay flowers at a memorial to Paris terror victims.

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