Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/602004
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 15 NOVEMBER 2015 Paris attacks VII Eagles of Death Metal cancel European tour THE members of the American rock band Eagles of Death Metal were able to escape the Paris concert venue where their performance was interrupted by the landmark terror attack last Friday, which left 87 concertgoers dead at Le Bataclan – an iconic musical venue in Paris's 11th arrondissement. Though the death tolls fluctuated as the story developed, 87 were reported dead at the Bataclan venue at the time of go- ing to print, after gunmen sprayed bullets into the crowd, then began killing those who were unable to escape. On Saturday afternoon, the band officially an- nounced that they will be cancelling the rest of their European tour, which in- cluded a concert in Tour- coing in northern France yesterday, and a gig in Brussels today. "The group is going to return [to the US]," an of- ficial at promoters Nous Productions told AFP. "My heart is actually in Paris tonight. I'm saying a million prayers that my husband comes home safe and I'm saying a million prayers for everyone who won't. I've never been so grateful and so heartbro- ken in the same breath of air," Emily Dorio, the wife of drummer Julian Dorio, wrote on Instagram af- ter it was announced that the band will be en route back to America. A U.S. official confirmed to the Associated Press that all members of the band were safe and ac- counted for. The Los Angeles Times, citing someone close to the band, also reported that the band members were unharmed, but one person working with the band was killed, and another was wounded. A man identified as Michael Dorio, the brother of the band's drummer Julian Dorio, told WSB-TV in Atlanta that his brother had escaped the thea- tre. "He said they were playing, about six songs into the show, and they heard, before they saw any- thing, they heard automatic machine gunfire. And it was so loud, it was louder than the band, and they all hit the stage floor," Dorio told WSB. "And as they got up to try to evacuate they saw men with machine guns just shooting anything and every- thing in the venue." "Fifteen hundred people, Julian said, was about the capacity of the venue. I don't know if it was seated or standing but Julian, the lead singer and some of the crew, there was a door back of the stage that led to a street and they flew out the back door," he said. Julian Dorio's wife told The Washington Post that her husband and other band members made it out alive. "We are just holding our breath and saying prayers for everyone," Emily Dorio said. "[Julian] called to say that he loved me and he was safe. Everyone on stage was able to get off." Earlier reports said the concert's opening band at the Bataclan assured fans on its Facebook page that the Eagles of Death Metal band members were outside when the attacks occurred and escaped. And shortly after the attack – around 1am on Friday – the band's official Facebook page issued the following message: "We are still cur- rently trying to determine the safety and whereabouts of all our band and crew. Our thoughts are with all of the people involved in this tragic situation." Fans largely responded with messages of support and encouragement, with most claiming they would "perfectly understand" if the band just cancelled the rest of their tour to spend time with their loved ones, while others claimed the move "wasn't very metal" and urged the band to not cave in to the terrorists' wishes by shutting down the tour. Yet another fan said, "I was at the show. I could run outside and hope you're all ok. Peace, love and death metal." The Eagles of Death Metal was formed by musi- cians Jesse Hughes and John Homme and features a revolving line-up. Despite their band name, Eagles of Death Metal can't be classified within the 'death metal' genre. Hughes stated that a friend was introducing Josh Homme to the death metal genre. When he played a song by the Polish band Vader and made a claim that the song was within the death metal genre, Homme then referred to Vader as 'The Eagles of Death Metal'. After hearing this phrase, he won- dered what a cross between the Eagles and a death metal band would sound like. Homme – famous for being the front man of fan-favourite stoner rock band The Queens of the Stone Age – is reportedly not on the band's Euro- pean tour. Members of the American rock band all accounted for, but a crew member was killed in the Le Bataclan massacre, as the band opt to cancel the rest of their European tour Josh Homme must go on as usual sion. They will show that they are not ready to be submissive… I am divided between being scared and just going ahead living my life. But the Parisians will not succumb to these threats and they will go on to live their lives as they have." Guitarist Sandro Zerafa, for whom Paris is also his adopted home, lives some 3km away from where the attacks took place. "Fear is in- evitable. Especially when these things happen at your doorstep… Still, common sense dictates that life should go on as usual. Even though the town hall has issued instructions to 'stay at home'. All public plac- es are closed, schools included. It is very upsetting. This is an assault on our well-being. Sitting in a café eating croissants apparently poses a life-risk." When we spoke to Sandro, Islamic State had not yet claimed re- sponsibility for the attacks yet. "Be ready for the tsunami of Muslim hatred now. Far-right groups must be rubbing their hands. These are sad times," he told us. Back in Malta, French ambassador Béatrice le Fraper du Hellen also spoke to MaltaToday, saying that French people have know for some time now that they have been under attack. "The main feeling in Europe at this moment is that we must not forget what we represent, what we stand for. This was an attack on our values, on liberty and on equality. We know this and it's what we are thankful for, and what we must stand up for. "We must not yield to the pressure, we must not create hatred and barriers in our society. We as Europeans know what we are fighting for and what we represent. This will make us stronger: standing for our values." Timeline of terrorist attacks in Europe in recent decades • May 24, 2014: Four people are killed at the Jewish Museum in Brussels by an intruder with a Kalashnikov automatic rifle. The suspect is a former French fighter linked to the Islamic State group in Syria. • May 22, 2013: Two al-Qaeda inspired extremists run down British soldier Lee Rigby in a London street, then stab and hack him to death. • March 2012: A gunman claiming links to al-Qaeda kills three Jewish schoolchildren, a rabbi and three paratroopers in Toulouse, southern France. • Nov 2, 2011: Offices of Charlie Hebdo in Paris are firebombed after the satirical magazine runs a cover featuring a caricature of the prophet Mohammed. No one is injured. • July 22, 2011: Anti-Muslim extremist Anders Behring Breivik plants a bomb in Oslo then attacks a youth camp on Norway's Utoya island, killing 77 people, many of them teenagers. • July 7, 2005: 52 commuters are killed when four al-Qaeda- inspired suicide bombers blow themselves up on three London subway trains and a bus. • March 11, 2004: Madrid suffers what Spain's interior minister calls the country's "worst-ever terrorist attack," when a series of bombs on commuter trains kill 191 people and injure more than 1,800. It is the worst terrorist attack in Europe since the Lockerbie bombing in 1988. • November 2003: At least 27 people are killed and more than 400 injured in bombings at the British consulate and the HSBC bank headquarters in Istanbul. The previous week suicide bombers attacked two synagogues in Istanbul, killing more than 20 people. • Dec. 21, 1988: A bomb explodes aboard Pan Am Flight 103, bound for New York from London, killing all 259 people on board and 11 people on the ground in the town of Lockerbie, Scotland. • Aug. 15, 1998: A car bomb planted by Irish Republican Army dissidents kills 29 people in the town of Omagh, in the deadliest incident of Northern Ireland's four-decade conflict. • July 25, 1995: A bomb at the Saint-Michel subway station in Paris kills eight people and injures some 150. It is one of a series of bombings claimed by Algeria's GIA, or Armed Islamic Group.