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Paris Wounded In Wheelchairs At Memorial

Wheelchair-bound victims of the Paris attacks have attended a solemn and defiant memorial service in the French capital.

Several of the injured sat among up to 1,000 relatives of the 130 people killed in the attacks on Friday, 13 November.

All listened in silence as the names of victims were slowly and carefully read out, faces of the deceased shown on a giant screen.

A minute's silence followed, broken by the melancholic strains of a solo cellist, playing Bach's Sarabande.

President Francois Hollande arrived at the service shortly after 9.30am, when the Marseillaise was played by the Republican Guard.

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French songs in tribute to those who died were sung at the start of the ceremony, as the French president looked on stoney-faced.

Mr Hollande began a 20-minute address shortly after 10am.

He said that the attackers belonged to a "death cult", were driven by an "insane cause" and had "betrayed their God".

Referring to the victims, he said: "It is because they represented freedom that they were massacred."

He went on: "At this very serious and painful moment when the nation is in mourning I would like to address our compassion… to the families

"Parents who will never see their children again, children who will never know their parents, couples that have been torn apart….

"France will be by your side. We will gather together our strength to try to ease your pain.

"France will do its utmost to destroy this army of fanatics. France will act in order to protect its children."

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He ended his address by saying: "Long live the Republic, long live France."

The Marseillaise was then played for a second time.

Among those attending were the parents of Nick Alexander, a Briton killed in the attacks.

They issued a statement for the first time since his death.

"Words cannot express the sadness we feel at the loss of our precious Nick," the statement read.

"This is just the beginning of a long road where we will have to get used to the absence of his physical presence around us - a physical presence that we loved so much, that made us laugh, that we loved being with, and always held us close wherever he was.

"The outpouring of love from around the world has been a great comfort to us and makes us even more proud to have had Nick as our son. We will love and miss him forever.

"We extend our love and condolences to all those who have been affected by this indiscriminate act, and are proud to stand with them in unity at the memorial service on Friday. Our lives are intrinsically linked forever."

An inquest into Mr Alexander's death was opened and adjourned in Chelmsford on Friday morning.

Coroner Caroline Beasley-Murray heard that he died from gunshot wounds to his stomach and chest.

In the run-up to the commemoration, Mr Hollande called on French citizens to hang out the Tricolour.

"Every French citizen can take part (in the tribute) by taking the opportunity to deck their home with a blue, white and red flag, the colours of France," Mr Hollande said.

But one family called for a boycott of the service, angry at what they see as the collective failure of the French government and security services to prevent the attacks.

Emma Prevost, who lost her brother Francois-Xavier in the rampage, set out her views in a widely-read Facebook post.

She wrote: "So no thank you Mr President, politicians, your tribute we do not want.

"You were partly responsible for what happened to us. It was earlier that there was a need to act. The attacks in January should have been sufficient."