UConn, Quinnipiac Students Stand in Solidarity With Victims of Terrorism After Paris Attacks

On Wednesday night, a large crowd gathered at UConn hoping a message of peace and tolerance would echo across the university.

"We want everyone to work together with us to make change in the world so these attacks don't happen again," said UConn sophomore Sana Suhail.

After the violent terrorist attacks in Paris and Beirut, students felt like Muslims became a target. Recently someone fired shots at a mosque in Meriden and someone else vandalized the dorm room name tag of a Muslim student at UConn.

"It's sad that some people, due to lack of knowledge or, you know, just simple intolerance, can do stuff like that," said Suhail.

"We're all human. We are all human before we are anything else, before we're Muslim, Christian, Atheist," UConn Junior Syed Saud said.

UConn students say they stand in solidarity with everyone affected by brutal acts of terrorism. They gathered in a circle asking people to step forward to share condolences and words of peace before finally embracing each other.

At Quinnipiac University, students stood next to each other waving the French flag and showing their support with a candlelight vigil. They want Parisians to know they're not facing this heartache alone.

"We wanted to do something that would be meaningful and connect with the French community here and the French community in Paris," Quinnipiac Junior Chris Gosselin said.

On Thursday, the Islamic Center of UConn is having a "Prayer for Paris" meeting at 6 p.m. and the event is open to the public.

The UConn Veteran Student Organization handed out a flyer asking people to gather at the top of Fairfield Way near the Student Union on Thursday from 3.30 to 3.45 p.m. to march in solidarity with victims and against terrorism.

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