Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Back to Opinion

How I Covered the Paris Hostage Siege

Police arrive on the scene of the hostage crisis in eastern Paris.// Laurent-David Samama

It was mid-morning when I saw several police cars rushing into my street with their sirens on. Even glimpsed through my window, the situation looked unusual.

In light of the recent massacre at Charlie Hebdo, I was suspicious, and headed out in the direction of the noice: Porte de Vincennes, in the southeast of Paris, near the Place de la Nation — and only a few blocks from my house.

Even on foot, I arrived at the scene of the hostage-taking before most journalists.

On the road there were and still are dozens of police cars. Within a few minutes, fire department trucks rushed to Porte de Vincennes later joined by dozens of ambulances. Police stopped traffic. The metro, bus and tram were shut down.

I suddenly realized that today is Friday — Shabbat. It’s no coincidence that the hostages are being held in a kosher market. HyperCasher is a small supermarket located in the eastern part of Paris, close to the cities of Vincennes and Saint-Mande home to strong Jewish communities. Only a few meters away from HyperCasher, there are two other Jewish businesses.

I asked a policeman for official news. He told me that there is still “a wounded in the shop, shot in the forearm.”. Around me more members of the community gathered. They told me that their wives and girlfriends work in the kosher shops nearby. The distress in their eyes was visible …

At 5 p.m. Paris time, all was very quiet. Then, the police told me to evacuate. Journalists still located near the hostage taking area have heard 4 explosions and more than 50 guns shot. We do not know more on the ground. At the moment I’m writing these words, I’m heading towards the nearest hospital, located just a blocks away from the place de la Nation.

We’ll keep updating this post as more information comes in.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.