Tens of thousands of people all over the Netherlands took part in a minute’s silence at midday on Monday to remember the people who died in the Paris terrorist attacks.

Public transport was halted and the occasion was marked in schools, companies, council offices and by ministers, news agency ANP said.

In Utrecht, the bells of the Dom church tower sounded for 10 minutes in the run-up to midday. Some 300 people, including many school children, joined mayor Jan van Zanen in the square next to the tower.

There were formal gatherings in several  other towns and cities and next to the French embassy in The Hague.

‘We feel the connection with Parisians and the entire French people,’ deputy prime minister Lodewijk Asscher said in a short speech during The Hague ceremony. ‘The Netherlands is mourning with you… we are convinced that extremist violence and blind terror must never and never will win over freedom and democracy.’

Minuut stilte voor slachtoffers #Parijs bij Franse ambassade in Den Haag. Indrukwekkend. pic.twitter.com/y8bpWV0ktJ

— Fons Lambie (@fonslambie) November 16, 2015