TERROR IN PARIS
At least 120 killed in wave of attacks across city; French president vows ‘pitiless’ war against those responsible
A series of synchronized attacks shook the French capital Friday evening when suicide bombers detonated explosives outside a soccer match and gunmen embarked on a massacre in a popular club district before entering a concert hall and taking everyone inside hostage.
After a two-hour standoff, police stormed the 1,500-person-capacity club, killing three attackers, but later revealed that at least 100 people had been killed when the assailants opened fire on the crowd.
Eight attackers were killed by the time the violence was over. The Paris prosecutor’s office said that seven died in suicide bombings.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
Estimates of the total number of dead varied widely as confusion reigned, but French police reported at least 120 had perished and another 200 were wounded in at least six separate sites across the city.
French President François Hollande, who was present at the soccer match between France and Germany, declared a state of emergency, mobilized the military and tightened border controls as Parisians hunkered down in metro stations and restaurants around the capital, and rumours of additional attacks swirled online.
The chaos started at about 9:20 p.m., shortly after kickoff at a packed Stade de France north of Paris, when explosions sounded through the cheers. Just outside the stadium, suicide bombers had blown up three restaurants. Hollande was evacuated, but the match continued with a helicopter hovering overhead.
At about the same time, a gunman with an automatic weapon opened fire on a café terrace in the 11th arrondissement, while a second attack at a popular Cambodian restaurant in the 10th arrondissement also occurred.
It’s unclear if the two attacks were perpetrated by the same people or if the gunmen met up later, but subsequent attacks occurred in the next half-hour: first at a bar near the popular Canal St. Martin and then on the Boulevard Voltaire, before at least three attackers entered the Bataclan concert hall, where the American band Eagles of Death Metal were playing.
The concert hall is only 200 metres away from the former offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, where gunman massacred 11 people last January.
Inside, the concert was in full swing, when witnesses reported gunmen opened fire — and some said lobbed grenades — into the crowd. Outside, police set up a perimeter and asked live television news crews to stop broadcasting to avoid revealing their strategy to the attackers inside.
“A group of us got up and succeeded in getting out at that point.”
The attacks played out on social media in real time when initial photos taken by passers by mingled with livestreams of people around the attack sites. Facebook offered a checkin system so people could assure their networks that they’re safe, while others used the hashtag #porteouvert to invite those looking for shelter into their homes.
“What the terrorists want is to make us scared, to seize us with fear. There is much to make us scared, much to fear. But facing that fear is a nation that knows how to defend itself, knows how to mobilize its forces, and will once again conquer the terrorists,” said Hollande in a televised address to the nation.
Later, in a visit to the club where the majority of victims were killed, Hollande added: “We are going to lead a war, it will be pitiless.”
The 80,000-seat Stade de France is the country’s top sports venue and it was full Friday evening for a match between France and Germany.
Videos posted to social media show two audible blasts went off around 9:20 p.m., about 20 minutes after kickoff. Neither the players nor the crowd seemed aware of what happened and the game was allowed to go on. France beat Germany, 2-0.
Hollande, who was in attendance, was rushed to safety.
Police later told Le Monde that there were three explosions just outside the stadium, killing four, three of whom were suicide bombers.
After the match, fans were herded onto the field and before being allowed to exit the stadium.
Roberto Chiavatti, a Trent University graduate on holiday in Europe, was at the match and heard the detonations, his sister Karen told the Star. In Toronto, she waited nervously for a sign that her brother was safe.
After more than an hour, which felt like an eternity to her, her brother posted a status update on Facebook saying he had made it back to his hostel.
“There were police in full riot gear and others that looked like they belonged in some sort of military special forces unit,” he wrote. “I can’t understand French but the word terrorism is universal.”
Acafé on the rue de Charonnes, not far from the popular Bastille club district, La Belle Èquipe would likely have been full of people on a Friday night. Witnesses reported that a single gunman got out of a car around 9:30 p.m. and immediately started shooting at those seated on the patio.
He then apparently started walking up and down the street, firing single shots. Bodies were scattered on the pavement in photos posted to Twitter by local residents, who threw sheets from their windows to cover the dead.
“I heard some bangs and went to my window,” a witness told Le Monde. “I had a direct view of the café. I saw a man get out of his car and shoot at the terrace without aiming. He shot multiple times, in bursts. I heard cries. Then the man got back in his car and left, just like that.”
A police source told Le Monde that 19 people died and 14 others were gravely injured.
At around the same time, just over a kilometre further north, an unknown number of gunmen opened fire on a bar and restaurant.
Awitness who arrived on her scooter only minutes after the attack told Le Fiagaro : “There were people on the ground. I initially thought that a car had crashing into the restaurant because its window was smashed. I didn’t know what was going on.”
“There were so many bodies on the ground. I’d say, from memory, about forty. Four or five people were left, no more,” she said.
“But I didn’t see any blood. The fire fighters arrived very quickly, but it was very calm. That really struck me.”
Le Monde reported 12 dead and 10 wounded at the bar.
A few minutes after the attack on the Carillon, witnesses said attackers arrived at a the Café Bonne Bière, overlooking the Canal St. Martin, where couples stroll and party-goers drink late into the night.
“First we heard a shot, but we thought that it must have been a fire cracker. Then we heard an enormous burst of shooting and everyone understood that something horrible was going on. People ran to hide in McDonalds,” right across the street, a witness told BFM TV.
Le Monde reported five dead and eight wounded at that bar.
At 9:45 p.m. a pair of gunmen were seen entering the Bataclan, a large concert hall that attracts talent from around the world.
They may have been joined by one or two others, as police later reported that three or four attackers had been killed.
Police set up a perimeter around the concert venue and seemed to be attempting to negotiate, asking gathered TV crews to stop reporting live. Shortly after midnight, several explosions were heard inside and a few minutes later police raided the building. The incident was declared over just before 1 a.m. as survivors who had hidden in the upper floors were evacuated by ladders to the windows.
Le Monde reported that 78 people had died at the theatre.