Hollande calls on French people to display national flags
French President François Hollande has called on French citizens to decorate their homes with the national flag on Friday to commemorate the victims of the Paris attacks.
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All citizens could "participate symbolically by decorating their homes with the blue, white and red flag," Hollande said before the Council of Ministers on Wednesday.
Hollande will lead a ceremony during a day of mourning on Friday for the 130 people killed by jihadists on 13 November.
"We have tried to suggest something that will let every French person take part in Friday's ceremony," government spokesman Stéphane Le Foll said.
Sales of the "tricolore" have soared since the attacks. "It's a potential unifier much bigger than the slogan 'Je suis Charlie', " said sociologist François de Singly, simply because 'Je suis Charlie' doesn't reflect all parts of the French society.
According to Sandra Laugier, a philosophy lecturer at the Sorbonne University, the French flag has not only been long considered by many French people as a symbol of nationalism, but also it has now become a banner for "the love of life".
The "tricolore" has already bloomed all over online social networks and at the sites of the attacks.
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