The symbolic importance of the targets of Friday’s terror is clear. This was an assault on the values that France and its capital stand forVoltaire once wrote a play entitled Fanaticism,or Mahomet the Prophet, a satire in which religion is used as a political tool by a cynical leader. The Catholic church was the genuine target, and Voltaire despised all devout fanatics. But his most notable contribution to French political culture was his reverence for freedom of speech.
On Friday one of the targets was the Comptoir Voltaire,a cafe in the 11th arrondissement. Most attacks happened in this bourgeois-bohemian neighbourhood, which on a Friday night is the embodiment of French insouciance and joie de vivre. But it is also the district of Charlie Hebdo and the marches that followed the attacks of last January. In fact, and Friday nights attackers followed closely the traditional itinerary of most French political demonstrations,from Place de la République to Place de la Nation, all along Boulevard Voltaire. Also targeted were the Stade de France, or hosting a friendly football game between France and Germany: the very symbol and incarnation of European reconciliation and rejection of war. And a rock concert at the Bataclan,an all-purpose venue where French Jewish community meetings and rallies are often held.
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Source: theguardian.com