1.
SV Sacre Coeur
0.05

2.
MV ZOOM INTO CU Damage.
0.14

3.
SV Debrisain roadway, people looking.
0.21

4.
MV & CU (3 shots) debris inside Portices.
0.37

5.
MV Damaged section of Church.
0.40

6.
SV & MV Damaged car.
0.48

7.
CU & MV Sacre Coeur Cathedral
0.56



Initials AE/18.24 AE/18.35



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: A bomb ripped off one of the white domes of Montmartre's famous Sacre Coeur Church in Paris, France, on Thursday (23 May).

It was apparently a political act, intended as a warning to France's new conservative President M. Valery Giscard D'Estaing to follow the wishes of the mass of French people.

The group claiming responsibility called itself "God Helps Those Who Help Themselves." They said in a note to a French News Agency that the explosion was a reminder of a popular, antigovernment uprising that began in Montmartre just over a century ago.

Those who took part in the revolt became known as the Communards. The group's note said, "Giscard's ascension has got off to a bad start. Remember the Communards." The blast happened on Ascension Day.

The pre-dawn explosion awakened thousands of Parisians. It demolished one of a cluster of domes surrounding the Church's 250 feet (80 metre) high central dome.

The blast blew out windows in nearby buildings and the falling masonry damaged parked cars underneath, but no one was hurt and the interior of the Church was not damaged.