Paris video: As a lone pianist pays a moving tribute, here’s what we know so far

A MAN played John Lennon’s classic plea for peace Imagine for a crowd gathered outside the Bataclan concert hall in Paris - the venue where 80 people were killed in a terror attack.
French people living in Thailand hold candles for the victims of Friday's attacks at the Alliance Francaise in Bangkok, ThailandFrench people living in Thailand hold candles for the victims of Friday's attacks at the Alliance Francaise in Bangkok, Thailand
French people living in Thailand hold candles for the victims of Friday's attacks at the Alliance Francaise in Bangkok, Thailand

The musician arrived on a bike, sat down at a mobile piano and began playing as members of the public and press listened in silence.

After finishing the song the man left the scene in tears.

Here is an overview of what we know so far about yesterday’s attacks in Paris:

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• The Islamic State (IS) terror group has claimed responsibility for the bomb and gun attacks in the French capital which killed at least 127 people and left around 180 or more wounded, 80 critically.

• France’s president Francois Hollande called the attacks an “act of war” carried out by a “terrorist army”. The attacks were “prepared, organised and planned from abroad, he said, with complicity from within the country”. He promised a “pitiless” response to the”absolute barbarity”.

Two women attend a vigil in Trafalgar Square in LondonTwo women attend a vigil in Trafalgar Square in London
Two women attend a vigil in Trafalgar Square in London

• Prime Minister David Cameron has chaired a meeting of the Government’s Cobra emergency committee, and police at ports and major events in the UK have been strengthened. He warned “we must be prepared for a number of British casualties” from the Paris atrocity as he condemned the “brutal and callous murderers”.

• A state of emergency has been declared in France after the country’s worst night of violence since the Second World War. Around 1,500 extra troops have been deployed across the country, police leave has been cancelled and border controls have been imposed. Schools and other public facilities are closed, and all public demonstrations in the Paris region have been banned until Thursday.

• A manhunt is under way for accomplices of the gunmen.

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• Around 80 are feared dead at the Bataclan concert hall, where gunmen are said to have opened fire indiscriminately on the crowd and held hundreds of people hostage. Police stormed the building, but attackers blew themselves up with suicide vests.

People light candles outside the French embassy in Seoul, South KoreaPeople light candles outside the French embassy in Seoul, South Korea
People light candles outside the French embassy in Seoul, South Korea

• Two suicide attacks and a bombing took place at the Stade de France stadium, just north of the city, where Mr Hollande was among thousands of football fans watching the national side play a friendly football match against Germany. A Syrian passport has been found on the body of one of the stadium suicide bombers, police officials said.

• Gunmen targeted bars and restaurants in the 10th and 11th arrondissements of central Paris

• As many as 18 people died when the terrace of La Belle Equipe was sprayed with gunfire, while around 14 people were killed at Le Carillon bar-cafe. There were also shootings at the nearby Cambodian restaurant Le Petit Cambodge and the La Casa Nostra pizzeria.

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• IS released a statement in which it said the locations of the killings were “meticulously selected in advance in the heart of the French capital”.

Front pages of papers sold in Paris following the attacks in the French capital . PIC: PAFront pages of papers sold in Paris following the attacks in the French capital . PIC: PA
Front pages of papers sold in Paris following the attacks in the French capital . PIC: PA

Claiming responsibility for the attacks, the terror group said “eight brothers wearing explosive belts and carrying assault rifles” had targeted “the capital of abominations and perversions and those who carry the crusader banner in Europe”.

The statement - issued in both Arabic and French - called the music fans at the Bataclan as “idolators at a festival of perversity”.

And in apparent reference to France’s participation in airstrikes against IS strongholds in Syria, it added: “France and those who follow the same path must know that they will remain the principal targets of Islamic State and will continue to smell the scent of death for having... struck Muslims in the territory of the caliphate with their aircraft.”

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• The terror threat level in the UK remains at “severe”, Mr Cameron said, but warned the attack would prompt a review of security measures. He added: “I have spoken to Francois Hollande. I expressed our solidarity with France and said we will do whatever we can to help.”

• Mr Hollande, who has cancelled a planned visit to Turkey for the G20 summit this weekend, is to address both houses of the French parliament at Versailles on Monday, when there will be a minute’s silence for victims. The president has spoken with other world leaders by phone, including German chancellor Angela Merkel and Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan.