<p>For every French patriot who hung the tricolour from their balconies during Friday's memorial ceremony for the victims of the Paris attacks, countless others didn't. Flag-waving patriotism of the US kind is a turn-off for many French people.</p><br />"Non. We are not in the United States."<br />Muriel Babandisha, a 23-year-old resident of Paris's 19th arrondissement, was echoing the views of many of her compatriots - especially the younger ones – when she told the Le Parisien newspaper that she didn’t think hanging a flag in her window was the right symbol for commemorating the 130 people killed in the Paris attacks. “I am always a little wary of these patriotic eruptions,” she explained.<br />For President François Hollande, bedecking public monuments and homes in the blue-white-and-red tricolour is an ideal way for French people to show their solidarity at a time of national mourning. And given the ban on public gatherings under the State of Emergency, many are inclined to agree.<br />Flags have been hoisted, waved and draped from lamp posts at other epochal moments in recent French history – most memorably, after the “Libération” in 1944, or the against-all-odds victory in the 1998 World Cup.<br />But at other times, the tricolour has been associated with darker chapters. It was the standard of the World War II Nazi-collaborating Vichy regime and, more recently, has been appropriated by nationalists, including the far right National Front political party.<br />By embracing the flag as a potent symbol of Republican values, Hollande, a Socialist president, is also attempting to reclaim it from the right, in the name of universal French values of freedom and democracy.<br />Securi... Go on reading on our web site.<br />Visit our website:<br />http://www.france24.com<br /><br />Like us on Facebook:<br />https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English<br /><br />Follow us on Twitter:<br />https://twitter.com/France24_en
