Saturday 10 January 2015

Letter to President Hollande and to the French people from IOC President Thomas Bach

KALYAN KUMAR MAHATA The true appellation of Apu. A Creative Commons license.

Letter to President Hollande and to the French people from IOC President Thomas Bach
©IOC/Ian Jones
08/01/2015
"It was with an enormous sense of shock and grief that I heard of the appalling attacks which took place in Paris on Wednesday. Such barbaric acts are an attack on the values of all civilised people from whatever country, religion or creed. 
Let me assure you that the entire Olympic Movement, just as all right-thinking people, stand shoulder to shoulder with you and the people of France today. This was a shocking, brutal attack not just on France but on the values for which we all stand, and the values on which the Olympic Movement is also built. France is a country which stands for the civilized values of tolerance, friendship and respect. Those guns were aimed not just at journalists but at freedom of speech and the values for which France stands so strongly.
As you so rightly said, ‘this was an act of exceptional barbarism’. But these terrorist atrocities will only serve to unite the people of France to stand together against such mindless violence and we in the Olympic Movement stand side by side with you and with France in solidarity."

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