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Swiss hold minute’s silence for Paris victims

Caroline Bishop
Caroline Bishop - [email protected]
Swiss hold minute’s silence for Paris victims
Geneva's jet d'eau displayed the colours of the French flag on Sunday night. Photo: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP

Switzerland will join France and many other countries around the world in respecting a minute’s silence at midday on Monday to honour the victims of the terrorist attacks in Paris on Friday night that took the lives of at least 129 people and injured hundreds more.

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The Swiss president Simonetta Sommaruga “invites each person in Switzerland to join this gesture of respect and solidarity”, her official spokesman told the media on Sunday.

Buses and trams in the Swiss capital, Bern, and some other Swiss cities stopped during the minute’s silence.

On Sunday night the famous jet d’eau in Geneva joined other landmarks around the world by being lit up in the colours of the French tricolore, red, white and blue.

 

“This action of solidarity and fraternity is in the spirit of Geneva, the city of peace, freedom and human rights” wrote SIG, which manages the famous fountain, on its Facebook page.

People gathered in cities around the country over the weekend to lay flowers and candles in solidarity with France.

In Bern, flags on the federal parliament building flew at half-mast.

Swiss residents should expect sometimes lengthy waits at border crossings with France in the coming days, warns Le Matin, after border controls were tightened over the weekend.

The majority of border points between Switzerland and France are affected, said the paper, with waits estimated at between 30 minutes and an hour.

Switzerland has also increased the number of staff at the borders by 30 percent.

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