The Site of 5 Deaths During Paris Attacks, French Cafe Reopens Its Doors

A little less than a month after the November 13 attacks in Paris, a café, the site of five deaths during the chaos, opened its doors once more. La Bonne Biere, or "The Good Beer", resumed service on Friday, December 4, the first one to do so out of the targeted cafes.

The bullet holes in the windows are now gone and Parisians have filled the restaurant, exemplifying the banner above the café which states, "Je suis en terrasse", or "I am on the terrace." Parisians adopted the phrase after the attack to show their defiance to the attacker that they would not be scared of going about the city.

NPR described the scene:

"The façade of La Bonne Biere has been hastily repaired, and city trash collectors have begun to clear away flowers from several of the cafes and restaurants attacked. With memories of the night still raw, French news reports show local residents have mixed feelings about the reopening. One woman said Pairs has a wound that will never heal, but she said life must go on."

But despite this general hesitance in the community about the reopening, manager Audrey Bily, describes her feelings while talking with the BBC.

"I would like to thank everyone who has supported us for your poems, your messages and posts that have so helped us. We are going to start again, to bounce back. We have carried out some work and repainted the walls to wipe away the signs of this nightmare. The Bonne Biere café was a place where people meet and exchanged and shared. This is what we want it to be again today."

The attacks on November 13 left 350 wounded and 130 people dead, five of which occurred when two gunmen approached the café and opened fire on the people that were on the terrace. Close-circuit cameras captured the attack.

Across the street, the Casa Nostra restaurant, which was also hit remains closed, along with four other cafes and restaurants that were targeted in the attack, but there are plans for reopening. The Wall Street Journal reports that La Belle Equipe, in the 11^th arrondissement, is hoping to reopen next month, and in the nearby 10^th arrondissement La Petit Cambodge said in a post on Facebook, "To not reopen would give in and concede a victory which will never be gained."

However, the scene of the deadliest attacks, the music venue Bataclan, will have to wait until the end of next year. Hopefully, by then, the people of Paris will have reopened all their doors and become stronger for it.