French President Francois Hollande and the Mayor of Paris both fired back at US President Trump, who speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday said “Paris is no longer Paris” after the 2015 attacks by Islamist militants.
Trump repeated his criticism of Europe’s handling of the terrorist attacks by saying his friend “Jim” ” no longer wanted to take his family to Paris. Trump went on to say that Americans could not allow a similar attack in the US.
“Take a look at what’s happening to our world folks and we have to be smart,” he said. “We have to be smart. We can’t let it happen to us.”
President Hollande responded to Trump’s comments during a visit at the Paris Agric fair.
“There is terrorism and we must fight it together. I think that it is never good to show the smallest defiance toward an allied country. I wouldn’t do it with the United States and I’m urging the U.S. president not to do it with France,” he said.
“I won’t make comparisons but here, people don’t have access to guns. Here, you don’t have people with guns opening fire on the crowd simply for the satisfaction of causing drama and tragedy,” he added.
On Friday, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo took to Twitter to respond to Trump’s comments by posting a photo of herself alongside Mickey and Minnie Mouse with Mr Trump’s Twitter handle.
“To Donald and his friend Jim, from the Eiffel Tower, we’re celebrating the attractiveness of Paris with Mickey and Minnie.” she wrote.
Over 230 people have died in a series of attacks in France since the start of 2015. The country has been under a state of emergency rules since November of the same year.
Hidalgo paid tribute to the strength of Paris in standing up to terrorism.
“There is a risk of terrorism in all major cities,” she said. “But Paris is doing well; Paris is a resilient city.”