Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris evacuated after man puts letter on altar, commits suicide

[sailingaway]

Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris evacuated after man puts letter on altar, fatally shoots himself in the head

It would seem to have been over as soon as he pulled the trigger, I would think.

http://t.co/oJ8KYJn5Jw


It's highly unusual for the cathedral, visited by some 13 million people from around the world every year, to be evacuated.

Police, the Paris prosecutor and church employees gathered inside the cathedral, while puzzled tourists crowded outside on the island in the Seine River that has been home to the cathedral since the 12th century.

School groups lined up in hopes of entering the cathedral Tuesday evening, when it was expected to reopen for an evening service that church officials said would include a prayer for the man who committed suicide and other struggling souls.

Tuesday's death comes less than a week after another unusual suicide in central Paris, when a man shot himself in front of a dozen schoolchildren at a private Catholic school in the French capital.

Jacquin said a few people had committed suicide by jumping from Notre Dame's twin towers, but he had no knowledge of anyone ever committing suicide on the altar. The Eiffel Tower occasionally shuts down because of suicides or attempts to jump off its ledges.

[Lucille]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/farright-french-historian-78yearold-dominique-venner-commits-suicide-in-notre-dame-in-protest-against-gay-marriage-8625877.html


A far-right French historian shot himself in the head beside the altar of Notre Dame cathedral in Paris today apparently in protest against the legalisation of gay marriage in France.

Dominique Venner, 78, a former member of the nationalist terrorist movement, OAS, placed a pistol in his mouth and shot himself dead in front of scores of tourists inside the most visited building in France.

Mr Venner, a presenter on a Catholic-traditionalust radio station and controversial historian and essayist, posted an essay on his website earlier in the day calling for "new, spectacular and symbolic actions to shake us out of our sleep, to jolt anaesthetised minds and to reawaken memory of our origins".

His long essay was a tirade against gay marriage but also a warning that the "population of France and Europe" was going to be "replaced" and brought under "Islamist control" and "sharia law".

Mr Venner placed a sealed letter on the altar of the cathedral before shooting himself. His choice of the altar - associated with religious marriage ceremonies -appeared to be a symbolic gesture of protest against the law permitting civil gay marriages in France which took effect last weekend.
[...]
Mr Venner, a prolific author of books and tracts on extreme nationalist themes, has been one of many vociferous critics of the law. Some of his work as a historian has been well-received, incuding a 1981 book on the Red Army which won a prize from the Academie(acute on first e) Francaise(cedilla on c). Much of his work has been steeped in the racist ideology of the far-right, apologising for the pro-Hitler regime in Vichy in the Second World war and warning of conspiracies to destroy European civilisation and to swamp the white race.

Mr Venner was also an expert, and the author of several books, on hunting and fire-arms. In the 1960s, he was a member of the Organisation de l'Armee(acute on first e) Secrete(grave on second e) - the extreme nationalist terrorist movement which opposed the French withdrawal from Algeria and attempted several times to assassinate President Charles de Gaulle.

http://www.dw.de/frances-le-pen-hails-far-right-notre-dame-suicide/a-16827986


French National Front leader Marine le Pen has saluted the acts of a far-right activist who shot himself dead at Notre Dame. The man had earlier called on his blog for "spectacular action" to protect France's identity.

Witnesses said that the man had placed a letter on the altar of the church before shooting himself in the head just after 3 p.m. on Tuesday.

The suicide was hailed as a political gesture by Marine Le Pen, leader of France's far-right National Front. "All respect to Dominique Venner whose final, eminently political act was to try to wake up the people of France," Le Pen said on Twitter, signing her initials to indicate that she had written the entry personally.

Le Pen's far-right party, running primarily on an anti-immigration platform but which also opposes French government efforts to legalize gay marriage, is the third-most popular in the country.

The man was identified by police as 78-year-old Dominique Venner, a historian known for his far-right publications. A note on Venner's blog, dated May 21st, had strongly criticized a law to allow same-sex marriage that was passed by the Socialist government last week.

Venner - a paratrooper during France's war in Algeria - had written essays, military histories and books about weaponry and hunting.

'Need for gestures'

In the blog piece that saw him rail against the adoption of the gay marriage law, Venner called for words to be followed with deeds. "There will certainly need to be new, spectacular, symbolic gestures to shake off the sleepiness... and re-awaken the memories of our origins," Venner had written.

Police told the agency that the contents of the letter echoed comments posted on Venner's website.

[bolil]

Would have been more dramatic if he held aloft a 10' length of copper tubing during a lightning storm on top on the cathedral.

[Darguth]

A Catholic-traditionalist, really? Tell me, what does Catholic tradition teach on suicide, you dolt?!

[sailingaway]

A Catholic-traditionalist, really? Tell me, what does Catholic tradition teach on suicide, you dolt?!

this may be why he did it on the alter knowing he'd get a mass.

[paulbot24]

I am naive about French politics, to be sure, but I have a feeling if that happened here, the media would focus on how a man entered the most visited building in France with a gun and managed to pull off a "self-homicide" in front of scores of terrified tourists. The cost to the tourism industry is projected to be __% lower now, which demands quick legislation to prevent heavy financial losses from future gun violence in high revenue sites. I don't think any politician would be sending a hand-written letter calling for new spectacular symbolic gestures of anything positive. Again, I have no idea how they do things over there, but it sure does sound different than what I have grown accustomed to here.

[Aratus]

this is a tragedy that took a half century to go thru its paces.
he destroys the day by killing himself inside an ancient place
that has seen the centuries. i feel sorry for the staff on hand.

[Aratus]

Algeria achieved independence in the early 1960s

[lib3rtarian]

Now this is a good lesson the social conservatives here can copy. Just shoot yourself. Problem solved for the rest of us.

[PSYOP]

While I am not a Christian, I am curious to those of you here on the forums who are. Is it true that the bible condemns suicide as an unforgivable sin? AKA your ass is going to hell if you do?

[BlackTerrel]

A far-right French historian shot himself in the head beside the altar of Notre Dame cathedral in Paris today apparently in protest against the legalisation of gay marriage in France.

Dominique Venner, 78, a former member of the nationalist terrorist movement, OAS, placed a pistol in his mouth and shot himself dead in front of scores of tourists inside the most visited building in France.

Mr Venner, a presenter on a Catholic-traditionalust radio station and controversial historian and essayist, posted an essay on his website earlier in the day calling for "new, spectacular and symbolic actions to shake us out of our sleep, to jolt anaesthetised minds and to reawaken memory of our origins".

His long essay was a tirade against gay marriage but also a warning that the "population of France and Europe" was going to be "replaced" and brought under "Islamist control" and "sharia law".

Good for this guy.

I wish the idiots in this country would also off just themselves instead of trying to take out as many randoms as they can before they go.

[PaulConventionWV]

this may be why he did it on the alter knowing he'd get a mass.

Are people that stupid?

[James Madison]

While I am not a Christian, I am curious to those of you here on the forums who are. Is it true that the bible condemns suicide as an unforgivable sin? AKA your ass is going to hell if you do?

For us non-Catholics, all sin is 'unforgivable'. To sin is to defy God. The sins of the Elect are wiped away by the imputed Righteousness of Christ; all others with pay the price of sin, which is death.