A day of contemplation in memory of the victims of Chido. France will observe a day of national mourning, Monday December 23, announced Emmanuel Macron on X, Thursday. The disaster left at least thirty dead in the archipelago, but the French authorities fear a much higher toll, as buildings and huts in the shanty towns were swept away by the gusts. On Monday, the Head of State had already promised on X to organize this day of contemplation, “in the face of this tragedy which upsets each of us”.
As the Public Life website points out, national mourning “is not a ceremony, unlike the national tribute and the national funeral”. It is also not a public holiday. “There are few legal provisions on how these days should be held, but flags are flown at half-mast on public buildings and edifices”continues Public Life. If national mourning is decreed by the President of the Republic, it is up to the Prime Minister to set the terms. In particular, it can “ask for a minute of silence” in public establishments.
This will be the case on Monday, confirmed Emmanuel Macron in his message on X on Thursday. “Our flags will be at half-mast. All French people will be invited to worship at 11 a.m.”specified the head of state. “There will be a minute of silence in all public services and we will invite the population” to observe it, he added during an exchange with the press in the evening.
It's only the 10e time that national mourning is decreed under the Ve Republic, note Public life. These days were most often organized following the death of French presidents: Charles de Gaulle, Georges Pompidou, François Mitterrand, Jacques Chirac and Valéry Giscard d'Estaing. It is also in memory of the latter that national mourning was declared for the last time, on December 9, 2020.
Since the beginning of the 2000s, this decree has also been taken four times to honor victims of terrorist attacks: on September 14, 2001, in memory of the more than 3,000 people killed in the September 11 attacks in the United States ; in 2015, twice, after the attacks against Charlie Hebdo and those of November 13; and in 2016, after the July 14 attack in Nice. The national mourning of 2001 was the only one organized in memory of people killed outside the national territory, notes Vie publique. The site also underlines that, if the decree was most often taken for a duration of one day, three days of national mourning were observed after the attacks of November 13 and that of July 14.
Monday December 23 will mark the first time, under the Ve Republic, that this measure is taken to honor the victims of a climate catastrophe. However, this will not be the first time in French history: before the Ve Republic, national mourning had only been organized once, after the floods which left around a hundred dead in the south of France in 1930.
