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A8 WORLD NEWS
Tuesday 16 april 2019
Massive fire engulfs beloved Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris

By LORI HINNANT Julien Les Pauvres across
SAMUEL PETREQUIN the river from Notre Dame
Associated Press while the flames lit the sky
PARIS (AP) — A massive fire behind them. Paris Arch-
engulfed the upper reach- bishop Michel Aupetit in-
es of Paris’ soaring Notre vited priests across France
Dame Cathedral as it was to ring church bells in a call
undergoing renovations for prayers.
Monday, threatening one French President Emmanu-
of the greatest architec- el Macron was treating the
tural treasures of the West- fire as a national emergen-
ern world as tourists and cy, rushing to the scene and
Parisians looked on aghast straight into meetings at
from the streets below. the Paris police headquar-
The blaze collapsed the ca- ters nearby. He pledged to
thedral’s spire and spread rebuild the church and said
to one of its landmark rect- would seek international
angular towers, but Paris help to do so.
fire chief Jean-Claude “The worse has been avoid-
Gallet said the church’s ed although the battle is
structure had been saved not yet totally won,” the
after firefighters managed president said, adding that
to stop the fire spreading he would launch a national
to the northern belfry. The Flames and smoke rise from Notre Dame cathedral as it burns in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. funding campaign on Tues-
12th-century cathedral is Associated Press day and call on the world’s
home to incalculable works spire and its 250 tons of ing in shock as acrid smoke ing around the front of the “greatest talents” to help
of art and is one of the lead. The Paris prosecutors’ rose in plumes. Speak- cathedral, apparently in- rebuild the monument.
world’s most famous tour- office ruled out arson and ing alongside junior Inte- vestigators inspecting the Built in the 12th and 13th
ist attractions, immortalized possible terror-related mo- rior minister Laurent Nunez scene. Remarkably, only centuries, Notre Dame is
by Victor Hugo’s 1831 novel tives, and said it was treat- late Monday, police chief one of the about 400 fire- the most famous of the
“The Hunchback of Notre ing it as an accident. Jean-Claude Gallet said fighters who battled the Gothic cathedrals of the
Dame.” As the spire fell, the sky lit up “two thirds of the roofing blaze was injured, officials Middle Ages as well as
The exact cause of the orange and flames shot out has been ravaged.” Gallet said. one of the most beloved
blaze was not known, but of the roof behind the nave said firefighters would keep The fire came less than a structures in the world. Situ-
French media quoted the of the cathedral, among working overnight to cool week before Easter amid ated on the Ile de la Cite,
Paris fire brigade as say- the most visited landmarks down the building. Holy Week commemo- an island in the Seine river,
ing the fire is “potentially in the world. Hundreds of Late Monday, signs point- rations. As the cathedral its architecture is famous
linked” to a 6 million-euro people lined up bridges ed to the fire nearing an burned, Parisians gathered for, among other things,
($6.8 million) renovation around the island that end as lights could be seen to pray and sing hymns its many gargoyles and its
project on the church’s houses the church, watch- through the windows mov- outside the church of Saint iconic flying buttresses.q

France’s Macron postpones TV response to yellow vest crisis

By SYLVIE CORBET could affect France’s dem- Most yellow vests leaders
Associated Press ocratic rules. Some observ- have urged supporters not
PARIS (AP) — French Presi- ers say Macron may open to take part in Macron’s na-
dent Emmanuel Macron up the possibility that citi- tional debate, saying they
has postponed an impor- zens could propose refer- did not believe the govern-
tant address to the nation endums. ment’s offer to listen to the
that was to lay out his re- The French leader has re- French. Ingrid Levavasseur
sponses to the yellow vest peatedly said he won’t re- of the yellow vests pub-
crisis because of the mas- introduce a wealth tax on lished an open letter Mon-
sive fire at Notre Dame Ca- the country’s richest peo- day called “M. President,
thedral in Paris. ple — one of the protesters’ don’t play the illusionist.”
Macron was planning to major demands. She demanded measures
announce on Monday The yellow vest movement, to boost purchasing power
evening a series of mea- prompted by a fuel tax hike and maintain public ser-
sures after three months in November, has expand- vices.
of a national debate that ed into a broader revolt Macron has already made
encouraged ordinary peo- against Macron’s policies, concessions, but they failed
ple to propose changes to which protesters see as fa- to extinguish the anger of
France’s economy and de- voring the rich and big busi- the yellow vest movement.
mocracy. nesses. Their protests, which In December, he aban-
Instead he headed to the In this Feb.23, 2019 file photo, a protester wears a a yellow vest often turned violent, espe- doned the fuel tax hike,
scene of the fire. with a drawing depicting French President Emmanuel Macron cially in Paris, provoked a scrapped a tax increase
The French presidency and the word “target” during a de demonstration in the streets major domestic crisis that for retirees and introduced
didn’t reschedule the of Paris. sent Macron’s popularity to a 100-euro ($113) monthly
speech yet. Associated Press record low levels. bonus to increase the mini-
When he does speak, Ma- cerns over their loss of pur- to help retirees and single Still, the number of demon- mum wage, a package es-
cron is expected to re- chasing power with pos- parents. strators has been falling in timated at 10 billion euros
spond to protesters’ con- sible tax cuts and measures Other proposed changes recent weeks. ($11.5 billion).q