Paris, November 13, 2015
Islamist killers, operating in three groups, set off bombs near the Stade de France stadium, where 80,000 spectators watched a football match between the national teams of France and Germany, opened fire on patrons of several restaurants, and burst into the Bataclan concert hall, where the American rock band Eagles of Death Metal was performing. At least 130 people were killed in the attacks, and about 350 were wounded. The Islamic Caliphate claimed responsibility for the attacks.
As Russkaya Germaniya notes, terror returned to Paris ten months after the January shooting of cartoonists at the editorial office of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and the hostage-taking at a kosher supermarket. On the evening of November 13, several groups of suicide bombers almost simultaneously carried out a coordinated series of attacks in various districts of central Paris.
The heaviest blow fell on the Bataclan concert hall on Boulevard Voltaire, where a rock concert was underway: the killers who burst into the venue opened fire on the audience with automatic weapons and then detonated themselves. 89 people died in the Bataclan; the attack on the concert hall began at 21:40. Simultaneously nearby, at the Comptoir Voltaire cafe, also located on Boulevard Voltaire, another terrorist detonated a suicide belt after sitting down at a table and placing an order. The explosion killed no one except the terrorist himself; 15 people were injured, one of them seriously.
The first and last explosions in Paris – at 21:20 and 21:53 – occurred near the Stade de France stadium, where a friendly football match between the national teams of France and Germany was taking place. Another terrorist detonated a suicide belt near the stadium at 21:30. Apart from the suicide bombers, there were no casualties – the attackers could not get into the stands. At 21:25, terrorists opened fire on patrons of the Little Cambodia restaurant and the Le Carillon bar, located on Rue Alibert – 15 people died here. At 21:32, the pizzeria Casa Nostra and the cafe Bonne Biere on Rue de la Fontaine-au-Roi were attacked, where five people were killed. At 21:36, terrorists shot patrons of the La Belle Equipe restaurant on Rue de Charonne: this shooting claimed 19 lives.
The victims of the terrorist attacks in the French capital came from 19 countries, French President François Hollande said. A state of emergency was immediately declared in France, strengthening border controls and granting authorities special powers within the country – from searching any premises, seizing weapons, restricting alcohol sales, imposing curfews, and closing public and communal places to controlling media publications. By law, a state of emergency can last no more than 12 days, but François Hollande intended to extend it by a special decree for three months.
More and more details are becoming known about the Islamists who carried out the massacre in Paris. All those identified by intelligence services are young people between the ages of 20 and 31, of Arab origin (themselves or their parents), citizens of France or Belgium. Some had been to Syria, which links the current attackers to many previous ones; most are residents of suburbs, uneducated and unemployed, but – and this is their main difference from most terrorists – none have a serious criminal record or have served prison time. Consequently, the radicalization of these killers took place on the outside.
The alleged organizer of the terrorist attacks in Paris – 27-year-old Belgian of Moroccan origin Abdelhamid Abaaoud – did not participate in them directly, but, according to intelligence officials, organized and led the series of attacks from Syria. Photos of the Islamist appeared repeatedly in Belgian media; he did not hide his face, gave interviews, and bragged about organizing attacks under the noses of intelligence services and evading police every time.
On the weekend after the attacks, the multi-million city of Paris resembled a city frozen in horror: most shops and restaurants, museums, theaters were closed, the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower were not working, many tourists hastily left the French capital. A three-day national mourning was declared in France. Now the Fifth Republic is trying to return to normal life: 'We will do everything to make music sound again in our country,' promised French Minister of Culture Fleur Pellerin.