Cafe where 5 died in Nov. 13 Paris attacks reopens

PARIS — A cafe where five people were killed by a squad of Islamic extremist gunmen terrorizing central Paris reopened for business Friday.

Men repair the front side of  “La Bonne Biere”, one of the establishments targeted during the November 13 Paris attacks. The cafe reopened on Friday, Dec. 4. AP Photo

La Bonne Biere, a corner cafe in the trendy central Paris district targeted by the gunmen, opened early in the morning. Since the attacks, the shuttered cafe has been piled high with flowers, like the other sites of the Nov. 13 attacks that left 130 people dead.

Paule Zlotnik, a neighboring shopkeeper, praised the decision: “It’s time they open and that we continue life as it was before.”

In surveillance video seen by The Associated Press, two gunmen in black calmly approached La Bonne Biere that night, firing deliberately on the outdoor tables before turning back toward a car that can be seen rolling slowly behind them.

Also Friday, European Union interior ministers met in Luxembourg seeking to clinch a deal on sharing airline passenger information, which France says is a vital security tool for tracking extremists.

Arriving to chair the meeting, Luxembourg Deputy Prime Minister Etienne Schneider said “If we don’t get agreement today, it will be extremely difficult to get any agreement at all.”

The deal would give EU law-enforcement agencies access to information gathered by airlines like names, travel dates, itinerary, credit card and contact details.

Experts have narrowed down differences between security concerns and privacy rights but could not agree on whether to store the traveler information for six months, or nine months as France demands.

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve described the system as “indispensable in the fight against terrorism.”