As fire engulfed the Medieval Cathedral of Notre-Dame, a lot of people have reacted to the situation. Including the Prime Minister of The United Kingdom, Germany’s Chancellor, and President Donald Trump of the United States.
Calling Notre-Dame a “symbol of French and European culture”, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel has shown her immense support to the good people of France.
UK Prime Minister Theresa May, responded to the outbreak in a tweet. She said, “My thoughts are with the people of France tonight and with the emergency services who are fighting the terrible blaze at Notre-Dame cathedral”.
Also, on Twitter, US President Donald Trump also dropped his reactions and offered a solution he believed could help at that moment. He said it was “horrible to watch” the fire outbreak and also suggested that “flying water tankers” could be used to put out the fire.
Other people present in the scene of the incident, however, responded to the outbreak in silence. They stood round the burning cathedral and observed. While some sang hymns or said prayers, others could also be seen weeping openly.
Some churches around Paris rang their bells responding to the blaze, which happened as Catholics celebrate Holy Week.
Mr Macron cancelled a speech on TV in which he was due to address because of the outbreak. He was set to address the street protests that have rocked France for months when he cancelled.
As the president visited the scene, he said that the cathedral was a place “for all French people”, not excluding others who had never been there.
“We’ll rebuild Notre-Dame together”, he said as he cheered the daredevil courage and professionalism of the team of firefighters.
The last time the cathedral experienced any major damage was during the French Revolution. Largely unscathed, it also survived two world wars.
Watching something so significant to the culture and history of a people was really shocking to the French people.