The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative
Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other
shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org.
January 16, 2015

French to Give Citizenship to Malian Hero in Paris Supermarket Attack 
----------------------------------------------------------------------


 
The French government has announced it will award French citizenship to
a Muslim man from Mali who has been credited with saving the lives of
several customers during last week's hostage situation at the kosher
supermarket in Paris. Lassana Bathily hid shoppers in a cooler during
the attack and then escaped to alert police to the hostage situation.

Lassana Bathily: "When I ran downstairs, I went to the freezers. Several
people came with me. I switched off the light. I switched off the
freezers. The people who were with me, one with a two-year-old baby, in
the room, I pushed the women behind the door and told them: 'You stay
here and stay calm. I will get out."

Bathily will also be given France's highest honor, the Légion
d'Honneur.

 

.