Ulster Unionist leader, Mike Nesbitt MLA, paid tribute in the Northern Ireland Assembly today to the victims of the terrorist attacks in Paris on Friday night. He spoke during a Matter of the Day on the Paris attacks which he brought before the Assembly.

Mr Nesbitt said:

“I rise because, not for the first time, Paris, its natives and its tourists have been subjected to a most vicious and vile terrorist attack by religious extremists. To date, 132 are dead. Hundreds more are injured, many fighting for their life. Why? Because they ended the traditional working week in a bar or a restaurant or by attending a concert. It is hard to accept that, in 2015, such a simple act as shopping or socialising should represent an existential threat to life, but that is the grim reality of terrorism.

“The House must take a firm stand against those terrorists, who, of course, are not just attacking Paris or France but represent a threat to the Western World and beyond. We must also demand a robust response. The Prime Minister has told us that, here in the United Kingdom, the threat is severe, and he revealed today that the security forces have prevented no fewer than seven planned attacks in the United Kingdom this year.

“We must also remember who the enemy are. We must not paint everybody with the same brush. No Member of this Assembly should be held responsible if a high school in the United States is shot up by a white Christian just because we share the same colour of skin and the same religious affiliation. The enemy are the extremists, and any security policy must make that very firm distinction.

“Today, we should focus on the human cost of the inhumanity of the perpetrators. On behalf of the Ulster Unionist Party, I extend my deepest sympathies to the families of the deceased and the injured, to President François Hollande and to the people of France. We stand together with them in defiance of those who have attacked our way of life.

“In concentrating on the human cost, I finish with a quote from a restaurant worker in the wake of the attack. He said:

 "One woman had been shot with several Kalashnikov bullets in her side, and she had a huge hole there, an open wound. There was nothing anybody could do. She was only about 20 years old. I knelt down and talked to her. I told her not to move and to take deep breaths. She didn't complain at all, or even say anything. She was just looking up at me and her eyes faded away. I will remember her face and her eyes all my life."