'TOTAL HORROR’
EXECUTIONS, EXPLOSIONS, SHOOTINGS, HOSTAGES: THE WORST ATTACK ON THE CITY OF PARIS SINCE THE SECOND WORLD WAR ARMED TERRORISTS HIT MULTIPLE SITES ACROSS THE CITY, LEAVING A TRAIL OF DEATH AND DEVASTATION.
Dozens are dead, the country’s borders are closed and the city of Paris has been flooded with soldiers after an “unprecedented” string of terrorist attacks struck the capital Friday night — the worst to hit France since the Second World War.
“To all those who have seen these awful things, I want to say we are going to lead a war which will be pitiless,” French president François Hollande said early Saturday morning after surveying a French theatre in which more than 100 concertgoers had been murdered by terrorists.
As of press time, coordinated terrorist attacks had struck six points in Paris, including driveby shootings at sidewalk cafés, a hostage-taking at a sold-out music venue and France’s firstever suicide bombing.
At least 149 were confirmed dead at press time, including more than 100 murdered in Le Bataclan, a theatre that was swarmed by gunmen in the midst of a performance by the Southern California group the Eagles of Death Metal.
Attendees described “walking on bodies” to flee as gunmen methodically murdered spectators. “It took at least 10, 15 minutes, they reloaded, they had all the time they needed,” one survivor told Le Monde.
Another witness told French media, “there was blood everywhere, they were firing a pump-action shotgun into the crowd.”
Dozens of concertgoers reportedly survived by hiding in the theatre’s attic, where they were freed by a police operation just before 1 a.m. The Eagles of Death Metal, who were onstage when gunmen streamed into Le Bataclan from multiple entrances, were also reportedly able to escape.
At least two restaurants, Le Carillon and Le Petit Cambodge, were packed with diners on sidewalk tables when gunmen opened fire with Kalashnikov rifles around 7 p.m. The shooters then fled in “one or two” vehicles.
“We were listening to music when we heard what we thought were firecrackers. A few moments later, it was a war zone. Blood everywhere,” a diner at Le Carillon told Le Monde.
Screams in English from one of the restaurants led some witnesses to believe that a table of foreign students had been hit by the fusillade.
Twitter user Tommy Pouilly, whose apartment overlooks a scene of one of the shootings, heard gunfire before seeing seven bodies lying prone on the pavement.
As police and paramedics arrived, neighbours laid out floral-print bedsheets to conceal the bodies, leaving only hands and feet visible. “Total horror,” he wrote. About the same time bullets ripped into the restaurants, a concussive “boom” was picked up on broadcasts of the match between France and Germany at the Stade de France. To avoid a panic, the match continued as successive explosions boomed outside and security officials hustled French president Hollande from the stands.
According to early reports, at least one attack was the result of a suicide bomber — a dubious first in French history.
“As I speak, terrorist attacks of an unprecedented scale are taking place in the Paris region,” Hollande declared in a midnight address. Just minutes later, another wave of explosions could be heard at Le Bataclan.
Spectators could be seen milling on the grass in the Stade de France after the game, while authorities gauged whether it was safe to release them into the city. A spontaneous mass-singing of La Marseillaise, the French national anthem, could be heard as stadium-goers were finally ushered towards the exits.
Across the city, Paris’ normally vibrant streets took on an air of eerie silence as authorities urged residents to return to their homes. With many Metro stations closed — and taxis nearly impossible to find — residents were forced to walk home.
A Twitter hashtag #PorteOuverte (open door) sprang up within minutes of the attack, letting Parisians know who was willing to invite strangers into their homes for refuge. Restaurants and bars near the affected areas locked their doors and pulled down their security shutters to shield customers against the possibility of continued violence.
As many as 1,500 French troops were mobilized as army trucks began to rumble into the 10th and 11th arrondissements — the epicentre of the attack — just after midnight. Hollande also announced that the country’s borders had been closed.
By early Saturday morning, the president’s Counsel of Ministers officially confirmed a general state of emergency. Major institutions have been closed. Paris’ hospitals have been placed under “Plan White,” a code denoting a mass-casualty situation. And by early morning, the Eiffel Tower had gone dark in memory of the dead.
“Tonight is a time of pain,” the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, said after visiting Le Bataclan. “I know that Parisians, who will suffer with those who fell this evening, will also be close at the sides of the victims, to show (the attackers) that this liberty, this liberty there is in our city, this joie-de-vivre that there is in our city, will not abandon them.”
The attacks occur just 10 months after Paris was seized by a series of Islamist attacks that left 17 dead, including most of the editorial staff of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo.
Two of the targets Friday, Le Carillon and Le Bataclan are in the same general neighbourhood as the Charlie Hebdo offices.
“What the terrorists want is to make us afraid, to immobilize us with fear,” said Hollande. “But we must face this threat as a nation that knows how to defend itself.”
Micheal Cadot, the head of Paris police said early Saturday that five attackers are believed dead. although authorities are still searching for possible accomplices. It is not yet known if the attackers are French or foreign nationals.
Taking place on the eve of the G20 gathering in Turkey, the attacks spurred an immediate offers of solidarity from world leaders.
“We stand with them in the fight against terrorism and extremism,” said U.S president Barack Obama. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the attacks “terrible, senseless acts.”
Extremist groups have repeatedly threatened France, currently bombing Islamic State targets in Syria and Iraq. French authorities have been particularly concerned about the threat from domestic Islamic radicals who have obtained terrorist training in Syria.