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Four people were killed Friday when the terrorist Amedy Coulibaly took several hostages inside a Kosher market in Paris, but that number may well have been higher were it not for a quick-thinking employee of the market named Lassana Bathily.
Bathily, a 24-year-old Muslim from Mali, was working in the store in the Porte de Vincennes neighborhood when the Islamist gunman burst in.
As panic ensued, up to 15 customers in the store hurried down to the store basement, when Bathily had an idea.
“When they ran down, I opened the door [to the freezer],” he told France’s BFMTV.
He quickly shut off the freezer and switched off its light. As he closed the door to shelter the customers inside, he told them, “Stay calm here. I’m going out.”
Eventually police raided the market, killing Coulibaly. As the hostages were freed from the freezer, they had a few words of thanks for Bathily. “They congratulated me,” he told BFMTV.
Originally Posted in Buzzfeed: http://www.buzzfeed.com/davidmack/paris-market-hero#.pl197nV6R
With the amount of demonisation that the hostage taking and CHarlie Hebdo killings will create it is unfortunately necessary to post stories of positive action by Muslims which may have saved lives.
"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.
Bravo! (But why "unfortunately necessary"? I know that there is unreasonable pressure on Muslims to speak out - and for my part that pressure is really only on those, say here, who do make political comment, if you're minding your business do just carry on - but surely you would rather post this out of pride in a Muslim hero when he saves Jews, or any innocents, the opposite of what the murderers believed.)
"Unfortunately necessary" because people have died.
I find the need to shout "but there are good Muslims too" especially at a time when people have been killed slightly tasteless but it has become necessary to report such things, otherwise only the extremists killing people angle gets covered.
"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.
Talking about heros isn't tasteless at all. Talking about this guy saving the hostages doesn't take away from the feeling of horror and disgust at the whole situation. Both can be done in a respectful manner.
"How many people find fault in what they're reading and the fault is in their own understanding" Al Mutanabbi