‘The pain still lingers’: ten-year commemorations for November 13 Paris attacks
Tributes to attack victims are underway across the city, including outside the Stade de France football stadium and at the Bataclan music venue
Candles and flowers have been placed at the Monument à la République in Paris, which was also the site where people gathered to mourn victims of the terror attacks in 2015
Mairie de Paris Centre
Commemorations are underway in Paris marking the 10th anniversary of the November 13, 2015, Paris terrorist attacks.
The attacks saw 132 people killed and another 350 injured in bars and restaurants, outside the Stade de France football stadium and at the Bataclan music venue.
On that day, writes Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo in a statement today, “Paris was struck by horror when several groups of Islamist terrorists attacked the heart of what makes our city so vibrant: its youth, its terraces, its taste for music and liberty”.
“Ten years. The pain still lingers. In solidarity, for the lives lost, those who were injured, the families and loved ones, France remembers,” wrote President Emmanuel Macron on social media platform X.
Tributes to the victims of the attacks began this morning in front of the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, attended by Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron, Anne Hidalgo, former President François Hollande and Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu.
“There is a void that cannot be filled, an absence that weighs heavily every morning and every evening for the past 10 years,” said Sophie Dias, daughter of Manuel Dias who was the first victim of the attacks, during this morning’s ceremony.
Wreaths have also been laid in front of venues that were targeted: Le Carillon bar, Le Petit Cambodge restaurant, La Bonne Bière, Le Comptoir Voltaire, and La Belle Equipe.
Commemorations are ongoing in front of the Bataclan, where, in the presence of Mr and Mrs Macron, the names of the 92 victims there are being read out.
Locals are being invited to place candles, a flower or a note at the Monument à la République statue in place de la République, which was also the site where people gathered to mourn the tragedy in 2015.
Big screens there are also showing scenes from the commemorations, also being shown live by France Télévisions and TF1. There is also an archive photo display called “November 13: Paris remembers”.
This 10th anniversary commemoration will end with a ceremony near the Paris Hôtel de Ville from 18:00 to 20:00 dedicated to all of those who died, the survivors and their families, and which will also inaugurate a ‘November 13, 2015 garden’ at place Saint-Gervais in the 4th arrondissement.
This evening’s ceremony is closed to the public, but can be viewed at the place de la République screens and on TV.
It is being coordinated by Thierry Reboul, former artistic director of the 2024 Paris Olympics, who said rock music will play a major role.
"The idea is to pay tribute to the passion for which certain people died [notably the fans of the band Eagles of Death Metal, who were playing at the Bataclan on November 13]," he told Le Monde. "It had to resemble them."
Also, last night and tonight, the Eiffel Tower is lit up in red, white and blue.
The Islamic State group stated it was responsible for the attacks and the surviving attacker, Salah Abdeslam, was found guilty of terrorism and murder charges in June 2022.
The attacks came in the same year as the January 2015 attacks at Charlie Hebdo and the Hypercasher store.
