Europe

'Free Hugs' Lift Spirits After Paris Attacks

Strangers embraced at Paris' Place de la Republique to give comfort and solidarity.

'Free Hugs' Lift Spirits After Paris Attacks
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Free hugs in France

Parisians are embracing strangers to lift spirits after last week's attacks.

"We all wanted to be here just to get together and to believe in something more beautiful than what happened. There's still some hope and there's still some love, and we're all human. And we have to share. So that's why I'm hugging people," Thomas Wahl said. 

"How many hugs do you think you've given?"

"I've been here four hours. Maybe 300?"

"We can embrace and breathe out and let things go. That's important. Let things go," Simone de Lucia said. 

"We're a free country, and we want to share that and show the world that we can be free."