Sunday, November 15, 2015

Paris attacks: Restaurant worker saves two women

When the firing started on Friday night, Safer was at work behind the bar of the Casa Nostra restaurant in Paris.
Standing near the place where he almost died, he calmly recounts his ordeal.
"I was at the counter. We heard explosions - really loud bangs. Everyone started screaming, glass rained down on us. It was awful. There was glass all over the place, hitting us in our faces.
"I saw two women out on the terrace had been hit. One in the wrist and in the other in the shoulder. They were bleeding really badly."
Despite the obvious danger, Safer says he felt he had to help.
He waited for a lull in the firing, then ran outside to the wounded women.
"I picked them up and rushed them downstairs to the basement. I sat with them and tried to stop the bleeding.
"As we were downstairs, we could hear the gunfire continuing above. It was terrifying."
As frightening as it was, they had in fact escaped much worse.
"When we came out we saw bodies in the street. So many were injured."
The Casa Nostra is in the eastern 11th arrondissement, which is a mixed area that is home to many Muslims and people of Arab origin.
In the northern 18th arrondissement, one of the main Muslim quarters of Paris, the anger is palpable.
"We aren't like them," says Jamal, 44, of the attackers. "We have nothing to do with them. We are disgusted."
He is also worried about the wider impact that attacks like these have on the Muslim community.
Safer doesn't have the answers. He lives in the 11th and is a Muslim of Algerian origin.
In some ways, his story mirrors that of Lassana Bathily, a young immigrant from Mali who hid a group of frightened shoppers from the assault at the Kosher supermarket in January.
Both were Muslim, and both risked their lives for others.
About the attack, Safer said, "This has nothing to do with religion. Real Muslims are not made for killing people.”
"These men (Paris attackers) are criminals,” according to BBC. -amh


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