The Eiffel Tower is to be lit up in Belgian colours as a symbol of support in Paris for the people of Brussels after twin attacks there killed at least 34 people.
"In solidarity with the people of Brussels, Paris will light up the Eiffel Tower this evening in the colours of the Belgian flag," Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said on her Twitter account on Tuesday.
The attacks took the form of explosions at Brussels airport and a rush-hour metro train in the Belgian capital earlier on Tuesday, triggering security alerts across western Europe and bringing some cross-border transport to a halt.
They were a strong reminder to Parisians of the November 13 Islamist militant attacks in Paris where 130 people died, and came four days after the arrest in Brussels of a suspected participant in those assaults.
French cartoonists have also shown their solidarity with Belgium by picking up their pens in a move which echoes the response to the Charlie Hebdo terror attacks in Paris.
French newspaper Le Monde published an image of a weeping French flag with a human face putting his arm around his Belgian neighbour.
And circulating on Twitter has been a picture of beloved Belgian fictional hero Tintin crying as he reads a newspaper reporting on the explosions in Brussels.
Another image shows the character shedding tears coloured in the black, yellow and red of the Belgian national flag.
