Marche Silencieuse: Brioude 10/01/15

Today we attended the local “Marche Silencieuse” a march “en hommage aux victimes des attentats de ces derniers jours.”

These are being held all over France this weekend, and our local town had organised one for Saturday morning.
We hadn’t really known what to expect, especially how well supported this would be. Brioude is only a small town of around 6500 people, though it is a Sub Prefecture with a large rural hinterland. As can be seen in the photos, hundreds of people attended. Young people, families, the elderly all were represented here today. All political banners were banned, this was to be a silent display in homage to those who had died.

We marched – led by the mayor – from the Hotel de Ville through the town to the war memorial, where a minutes silence was observed .

As we turned away to return to the car, an elderly woman was leaning out of an apartment window with a hand written card “Je Suis Charlie”.