” We will never forget. We will always fight for freedom ”, tweets this Saturday Emmanuel Macron for the 20 years of the attacks of September 11 in the United States, with
a video of an American flag enthroned on the steps of the Elysee. The French President adds the English translation: “We will never forget. We will always fight for freedom ”. The video without background sound begins with a zoom on the American flag before expanding on the two French flags which surround it and to go up towards the sky where appear the words “Never forget 9.11.2001”.
Tributes have multiplied in France, including those of political leaders, for these attacks which killed some 3,000 people. “Everyone remembers the overwhelming images of the World Trade Center. In twenty years, this deadly threat has not abated and must be fought with total determination ”, a tweeted the head of the RN and presidential candidate Marine Le Pen.
Another presidential candidate of 2022, the right-wing president of the Hauts-de-France region Xavier Bertrand estimated, in a tweet : “The war against Islamism, which has hit our country so hard, must be waged relentlessly. It will be long, but we will win it ”. To the left,
the mayor of Paris and probable candidate of the PS Anne Hidalgo also pays tribute to the victims and recalls that 20 years ago, “we were seized with fear”. “These events have forever changed the face of the world,” she concludes.
The leader of the rebels, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, also deplores the “murder of 3,000 New Yorkers”. “But what has happened to these 20 years of” war on terror “? A series of anything warlike and security completed in the rout in Kabul. It’s time to rethink everything, ”he wrote.
These attacks “changed politics around the world”
In Brussels, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen paid tribute to the victims of these jihadist attacks. “On September 11, we remember those who lost their lives and honor those who risked everything to help them. Even in the darkest and most trying times, the best of human nature can shine through. The EU stands with the United States to defend freedom and compassion against hatred, ”she tweeted.
In Great Britain, Queen Elisabeth II paid tribute to the victims of the attacks as well as to those who then set about “rebuilding”, in a message addressed to US President Joe Biden. “My thoughts and prayers – and those of my family and the country as a whole – remain with the victims, survivors and affected families, as well as with first responders and rescuers,” said the 95-year-old sovereign.
In Italy, President Sergio Matterella expressed his country’s solidarity with the United States and its other allies “to counter any terrorist threat”. In Switzerland, President Guy Parmelin underlined in a tweet “the unconditional rejection of terrorism”. These attacks “changed politics around the world and also had an impact on our life in Switzerland. Affirming the unconditional rejection of terrorism everywhere and always, I express my solidarity with all its victims, ”he wrote.
“We can never take our peace for granted”
In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesperson Steffen Seibert soberly paid tribute to the victims of the attacks. “Today the September 11 attacks in the United States mark their twentieth anniversary. We remember the victims, ”the spokesperson tweeted. In Australia, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison paid tribute to “the 2,977 people who lost their lives that day”.
“9/11 reminds us that we can never take for granted our peace, our freedom and our way of life,” writes Scott Morrison, in an open letter offering his “heartfelt condolences” to “all the American people.” There are “times when things that we thought were safe can change in the blink of an eye and we know that nothing will be the same again,” he continues, referring to the “shock we felt as the foundations of our world seemed to be shaking. September 11, 2001 in the United States was one of those days ”.
