PARIS (Reuters) - French President Francois Hollande fired back at Donald Trump on Saturday after the U.S. president remarked in a speech that a friend thought “Paris is no longer Paris” after attacks by Islamist militants.

Hollande said Trump should show support for U.S. allies.

“There is terrorism and we must fight it together. I think that it is never good to show the smallest defiance toward an allied country. I wouldn’t do it with the United States and I’m urging the U.S. president not to do it with France,” Hollande said.

“I won’t make comparisons but here, people don’t have access to guns. Here, you don’t have people with guns opening fire on the crowd simply for the satisfaction of causing drama and tragedy,” Hollande said, responding to questions during a visit at the Paris Agric fair.

During a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday, Trump repeated his criticism of Europe’s handling of attacks by Islamist militants saying a friend “Jim” no longer wanted to take his family to Paris.

More than 230 people have died in a series of assaults in France since the beginning of 2015, and the country has been under a state of emergency rules since November the same year.

Trump’s comments also drew a rebuke from the mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo.</s>PARIS — The usually mild-mannered president of France pointedly reproached President Trump on Saturday after Mr. Trump commented on the dangers of terrorism in Paris, reminding the American leader of a cardinal rule in diplomacy: If you want to keep your friends, don’t criticize them in public.

“I think it’s never a good idea to show the least disapproval with respect to an ally,” said François Hollande, the French president, at the opening of an agriculture exposition in Paris. “I wouldn’t do that to an ally and I would ask that the American president not do that with regard to France.”

Mr. Hollande was responding to remarks Mr. Trump made on Friday at the Conservative Political Action Conference, in which he implied that Europe’s open borders had led to the terrorist attacks there.

Mr. Trump pinned his assertions on a friend named “Jim,” who he said had stopped going to Paris because “Paris is no longer Paris.” Mr. Trump said his friend had stopped traveling to the French capital four or five years ago, which was before the terrorist attacks there occurred.</s>French President Francois Hollande took issue with Donald Trump's Friday comments about Paris , in which the American President claimed he had a friend who felt "Paris is no longer Paris" in the wake of recent terrorist attacks.

Hollande called for Trump to support U.S. allies.

"There is terrorism and we must fight it together," Hollande said on Saturday during a visit at the Paris Agric fair, according to Reuters . "I think that it is never good to show the smallest defiance toward an allied country. I wouldn't do it with the United States and I'm urging the U.S. president not to do it with France.

"I won't make comparisons but here, people don't have access to guns," the French president added. "Here, you don't have people with guns opening fire on the crowd simply for the satisfaction of causing drama and tragedy."

Trump's initial remarks came during a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference . The president criticized Europe's handling of recent Islamist terrorist attacks , saying his friend "Jim" no longer wants to take his family to the French capital.

Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo and French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault additionally responded to Trump's comments via Twitter on Friday.</s>President Donald Trump is scheduled Friday to speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference. CPAC is the largest, annual gathering of conservative activists.</s>French President Francois Hollande fired back at Donald Trump on Saturday after the U.S. president remarked in a speech that a friend thought 'Paris is no longer Paris'.

Hollande countered by saying that Trump should show support for U.S. allies.

During a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday, Trump repeated his criticism of Europe's handling of attacks by Islamist militants.

Trump told the crowd at CPAC he had a friend who used to go to Paris every year.

'He loves the city of lights,' Trump said. 'For years every summer he would go to Paris, it was automatic, with his wife and his family.'

Now, Trump said, his friend doesn't visit.

'I said Jim, let me ask you a question, how's Paris doing?' Trump said, playing himself in the conversation. 'I don't go there anymore, Paris is no longer Paris,' the president said, answering as his friend.

Now, Trump pointed out, 'he doesn't think in terms of going there.'

While attending the Paris Agricultural Fair on Saturday, Hollande addressed Trump's comments.

He said: 'There is terrorism and we must fight it together. I think that it is never good to show the smallest defiance toward an allied country.

'I wouldn't do it with the United States and I'm urging the U.S. president not to do it with France,' Hollande said.

He continued: 'I won't make comparisons but here, people don't have access to guns. Here, you don't have people with guns opening fire on the crowd simply for the satisfaction of causing drama and tragedy.'

Trump's comments also drew a rebuke from the mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo.

She addressed Trump and 'Jim' in a hashtag, saying that American tourism to Paris is still flourishing despite the attacks.

More than 230 people have died in a series of assaults in France since the beginning of 2015, and the country has been under a state of emergency rules since November the same year.

Paris has seen multiple terror attacks, the deadliest being the November 2015 shootings and bombings of restaurants, the Bataclan theater and the Stade de France, which killed 30 at the hands of the Islamic State.

On Bastille Day of last year, an ISIS-aligned terrorist drove a truck through a crowd in Nice, killing 86.</s>In response to unfavourable comments over Paris, French President Francois Hollande warned his American counterpart Donald Trump over showing “defiance towards an allied country”, media reports said. “There is terrorism and we must fight it together. I think that it is never good to show the smallest defiance toward an allied country. I wouldn’t do it with the US and I’m urging the US president not to do it with France,” Xinhua news agency quoted Hollande as saying on the sidelines of the Paris agriculture fair.

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“I won’t make comparisons but here, people don’t have access to guns. Here, you don’t have people with guns opening fire on the crowd simply for the satisfaction of causing drama and tragedy,” he added. Hollande called on Trump to show more solidarity after he told the story of a friend named “Jim” who thought that “Paris is no longer Paris” after a series of attacks which rocked the French capital.

“I don’t go there anymore. Paris is no longer Paris,” Trump quoted as saying Jim “a very, very substantial guy” — who was once a regular visitor to the French capital. At the annual Conservative Political Action Conference at National Harbor in Maryland on Friday, Trump made the comments to endorse his claim that “national security begins with border security” and defend his travel ban.</s>President Donald Trump will deliver remarks at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday, the first president to speak at the conference during his first term since President Ronald Reagan. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said the President was looking forward to addressing the conservative group.

The President's appearance comes a day after speeches and interviews by other members of his team. Vice President Mike Pence and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos both spoke, while White House aides Reince Priebus, Steve Bannon , and Kellyanne Conway made appearances. During a question and answer session on Thursday, Conway hinted that the conference, which is referred to as CPAC, would become "TPAC" when Trump takes the stage.

His appearance Friday is a sharp reversal from the 2016 event when then-candidate Trump canceled his speech at CPAC.</s>WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump makes a valedictory return Friday to the right-wing conference where he made his first political inroads, but which he shunned last year during his unconventional 2016 run.

Trump’s speech is the highlight of this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference, held at a hotel and convention center outside Washington. Trump plans to arrive in his helicopter Marine One to the event, attended by conservative activists.

He first spoke at CPAC in six years ago, then as a brash billionaire with a popular reality television series. He told the crowd then he was considering a run for president — though he ultimately waited until the next election cycle to step into the fray.

Trump’s chief strategist Steve Bannon told the CPAC audience Thursday that Trump was returning to the conference to express his “appreciation” for the activists’ support.

“This is really where he got his launch, you know, with his ideas in the conservative movement,” Bannon said.

While Trump spoke at CPAC most years after his debut, he was conspicuously absent last year, in the height of the Republican primary contests. Organizers said he wanted only to deliver a speech when they requested he participate in a question-and-answer session.

His GOP rivals did attend, and lightly mocked Trump for his absence.

Trump arrives Friday vindicated and prepared to bask in his unlikely victory.

“I think by tomorrow this will be TPAC,” White House counselor Kellyanne Conway told the crowd on Thursday.</s>President Donald Trump will take the stage during the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland on Friday. You can watch his speech from the conference live in the player above.</s>Dan Kitwood/Getty Images(PARIS) — French President Francois Hollande on Saturday dismissed President Trump’s recent remarks at the Conservative Political Action Conference about Paris and Europe.

In his speech at the conservative conference, the president said he had a friend named “Jim” that did not want to go to Paris anymore because “Paris is no longer Paris.”

“Take a look at what’s happening to our world, folks, and we have to be smart… We can’t let that happen to us,” President Trump said.

At the annual International Agricultural Show in Paris, Hollande responded according to BBC, “It’s never good to show distrust toward an ally.”

“I won’t make comparisons, but here there’s no circulation of firearms. Here we don’t have people who take firearms and shoot at people in order to get the satisfaction of creating drama or tragedy,” he said. “There is, sadly, terrorism here. And we have to fight terrorism all together. It’s never good to show distrust toward an ally. I don’t do that to our allies, and I ask the American president to do the same toward France.”
French President François Hollande reproaches U.S. President Donald Trump for his disparaging comments about Paris at Friday's Conservative Political Action Conference, noting that allies should have more respect and support for each other.