It is a terrifying time for the residents around the village of Dammartin-en Goele, with the whole area placed under lockdown. A printing firm in a local business park is where the two brothers suspected of the massacre at the Charlie Hebdo magazine on Wednesday are holed up. They are reported to have at least one hostage.
Euronews spoke to the deputy mayor of a nearby village, Othis. Thierry Chevalier knows the people caught up in the standoff at the small printing firm, which many locals use.
“It’s a small family owned company,” he said. “I personally know the boss, who sometimes works with the town hall and it’s heartbreaking that they are the hostages. I hope everything will be OK for them and that they will be freed in the best conditions possible.”
It is also an anxious time for parents, whose children were just arriving for morning classes when the police operation began around the business park.
Chevalier said: “We sealed off the high school, the college, the children a
