Madonna sings for victims of Paris attacks

Madonna has staged an impromptu mini-concert at the Place de la Republique in Paris, the site of massed tributes for the victims of the 13 November attacks.

Following a sell-out concert on Wednesday evening at the Bercy arena in the French capital as part of her Rebel Heart tour, the singer tweeted that she was heading to the square for an aftershow appearance.

Video clips from the scene, taken by fans and bemused passers-by, showed Madonna singing with her son, 10-year-old David, and guitarist Monte Pittman.

Beginning with Ghosttown, she then moved on to Imagine and Like a Prayer.

Madonna told onlookers: “Everybody knows why we’re here ... we just want to sing a few songs about peace, just to spread love and joy, and to pay our honour and respect to the people who died almost four weeks ago. “And to spread light ... we all need it.”

Place de la Republique has become a shrine to the 130 people who died when Daesh terrorists carried out a series of shootings and suicide bombings in the French capital on November 13. In the immediate aftermath of the attacks, at a concert in Stockholm, Sweden, on November 15, Madonna asked for a minute’s silence for the victims, telling her audience: “It’s been really hard, actually, to get through the show, because in many ways, I feel torn. Like, why am I up here dancing and having fun when people are crying over the loss of their loved ones? “However, that is exactly what these people want us to do. They want to shut us up. They want to silence us. And we won’t let them.”