A PENARTH resident caught up in the Parisian attacks has spoken of his “terrifying night” in the besieged city.

Anthony Pickles, of Penarth, works in external affairs for Nissan Europe and was eating with friends at a restaurant in Le Marais when “everybody started to leave in a hurry”, he said.

He became aware through social media that deadly shootings had began - one just hundreds of yards from where they were dining.

Speaking to the Penarth Times Mr Pickles described the state of shock across central Paris with “tourists in tears, lost and looking for directions.”

He said: “We went out for a late dinner with friends in the 11e arrondissement and I started to receive texts from friends asking if I was safe.

“When I started to look at twitter, I could see the hostage location and the indiscriminate shootings were only around 600 yards from where we were sitting.”

After sprinting back to an apartment the group were staying in a mile away, Mr Pickles waited with friends as an “eerie silence” spread over Paris.

He said: “We walked through Les Halles – where moments later shots were fired.

“As we continued back, people were still sitting outside bars and restaurants oblivious to what was happening just streets away.

“The closer we got to the apartment, the more and more we saw people beginning to hear and starting to panic with people running and police vans driving in all directions.

“Within 30 minutes the streets outside were empty and all I could hear was sirens.”

When the group got inside the apartment, they turned off all the lights and sat on phones reading updates on Twitter “in complete shock and horror", Mr Pickles added.

“None of us slept and the next day, I went outside and the streets were deserted," he said.

“The city was in complete shock.”

On Twitter, Mr Pickles expressed solidarity that the Senedd Welsh Parliament building was lit up in the colours of the French flag.

Mr Pickles was the Welsh Conservative’s chief of staff until after the General Election in May. He has lived and worked in Penarth for four years.

129 people were killed and 352 injured in Friday’s attacks at seven locations across Paris.

The first two attacks happened at the Stade de France, with two explosions close to the France and Germany football game.

The third attack happened when gunmen opened fire at the Cambodge Cambodian restaurant in Rue Bichat and the Le Carillon bar.

Further attacks happened at the Casa Nostra pizzeria, La Belle Equipe bar in Rue de Charonne and the Bataclan music venue on Boulevard Voltaire.

The final attack was a third explosion near Stade de France by a Mcdonalds restaurant by the fringes of the stadium.

Anyone who is worried about relatives or friends in Paris should contact the British Embassy on 0033144513100.