Macron Cancels Major Policy Speech Over Cathedral Fire. | Nairalaw

French President Emmanuel Macron has cancelled a major televised
policy speech he was due to give on Monday evening over the
“terrible fire ravaging Notre-Dame.”

He also expressed the “emotion of a whole nation” on seeing the
famed Notre-Dame cathedral ablaze and its spire collapse.

“Notre-Dame consumed by flames. The emotion of a whole nation,”
Macron tweeted, adding that “like all my compatriots I am sad to
see a part of us burn this evening” and expressing solidarity with
“all Catholics and all French people.”

Meanwhile, the Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo in a tweet described it
as a “terrible fire”.

“The Paris fire service is trying to control the flames,” she
wrote on Twitter, asking residents to respect the security cordon
thrown up around the site.

A spokesperson for the cathedral said the fire, which comes as
French Catholics prepare to celebrate Easter, broke out at around
1650 GMT.

The moment when the spire atop #NotreDame cathedral in Paris collapses in
fire. pic.twitter.com/y6gfJyqyTV^[1][2]

— Mishel Kociu (@mishelkociu) April
15, 2019^[3]

Fire trucks could be seen speeding through Paris towards the
scene on the Ile de la Cite — an island in the Seine at the heart
of Paris.

The Paris police department in a tweet called on residents to
avoid the area and to “make way for rescue vehicles”.

AFP