Horrors of home recalled for Syrian refugee living in Paris

Nov. 21, 2015

PARIS — When Oday Ghalyoun heard shots ring out in the distance on the night of Nov. 13, he immediately recognized the whir of Kalashnikov bullets slicing through the air.

The 24-year-old Syrian refugee living in Paris was walking to a friend’s house around 9:35 p.m. when he found himself in the middle of an urban battlefield — a situation he thought he left behind when he arrived in France two years ago.

To his east, shooting had begun at La Belle Equipe restaurant. A few minutes later to his west, terrorists had begun their deadly rampage at the Bataclan.

While others around Paris initially dismissed the sounds as firecrackers, Ghalyoun, who has been fired at by Kalashnikovs in Syrian clashes back home, sought shelter in the shadow of a building, where eventually he and other locals would help five wounded survivors until ambulances arrived.

“For me, I never could have imagined I would live the same situation in Paris,” Ghalyoun said.

https://torontosun.com/2015/11/21/horrors-of-home-recalled-for-syrian-refugee-living-in-paris