ALL French firefighter Nico Meleissis of the Unité Légére d’Intervention et de Secours (ULIS) could think of when the terror attack in Nice happened during their country’s Bastille Day celebration was the safety of his son.
Meleissis, who was recently in the country to train Caritas Manila volunteers, said he and his son were on the Promenade des Anglais celebrating the French National Day when he heard loud noises.
“I was near. I saw a lot of dead people. My priority was my son. We run to the house. I covered the eyes of my son. I did not want him to see what is happening,” Meleissis said.
He added: “Children should be dreaming. It was terrible to see dead people. I did not want him to see people panicking, crying and running. I stayed home with my son.”
Meleissis, who lives a couple of blocks away from where the terror attack happened, said he is a firefighter and understands the situation, but he prioritized the safety of his son, especially after seeing his son’s classmate die in the attack.
Meleissis believes that terrorists are now living among them in France and things will be very different.
“I have no fear. I train every day to prepare myself to fight fires. But right now, I am very much disappointed that there is too much violence in the world. People are getting killed,” he said.
Meleissis, who has been a firefighter for more than 20 years, said each and every one of them is duty-bound to protect their country from more attacks.
“I do not want to do anything bad against other people, but the French must defend our country.”
Meleissis said that, even as he has Muslim friends, it is very difficult for him to answer what is the cause of the problem. He said there are now 6 million Muslims living in France.
“There are attacks every day,” he said, while citing a recent knife attack on a woman in their city. He also said that, after the terror attack in Nice, people were afraid to go out of their homes, and all the shops were closed.
Meleissis said it was tough for him to travel to the Philippines a few days ago for the fourth installment of their emergency-response training of Filipino volunteers.
“I wanted to be there for my country. I want to be there for my family and my son,” he said.
On July 14 a Tunisian resident of France drove a cargo truck to a crowd in Promenade des Anglais killing 84 people, including children, and wounding more than 300. It was the third terror attack in France after the Charlie Hebdo and Paris attacks last year.
The French Embassy in the Philippines has issued a statement saying France will remain strong despite the attack and will even be stronger as they uphold the democratic values that they hold dear.
Image credits: Rodel Alzona