Addressing the nation on television after an emergency meeting, French President Francois Hollande said that the state of emergency in place since November attacks that killed 130 in Paris would be extended by three months.
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Images being broadcast across French media showed revelers running for their lives down Nice’s palm tree-lined Promenade des Anglais, the famous seaside boulevard named for the English aristocrats who proposed its construction in the 19th century.
A few hours before Hollande’s announcement, US President Barack Obama also said the massacre appeared to be a “horrific terrorist attack”.
“France was struck on its national day … the symbol of freedom”, said Hollande.
Eric Ciotti said on BFM TV that police killed the driver “apparently after an exchange of gunfire”. And, in what appeared to be evidence of a gun battle, photos showed a truck with at least half a dozen bullet holes punched through its windshield.
Bodies lay covered in sheets on what is usually a bustling seven-kilometre strip curving along Nice’s clear blue coast, attracting tourists from the world over.
The witness said the driver accelerated as he was mowing people down. “And frankly it’s war and we’re dealing with people without uniforms”. “I had to protect my face from flying debris”.
Eighty were killed, a French interior minister.
“We must do everything so that we can fight against the scourge of terrorism”, he said.
“I am shocked to hear about the terrorist attack on an innocent crowd of people gathered to celebrate the Bastille Day in Nice city of France”. Vehicle attacks have been used by isolated members of militant groups in recent years, notably in Israel, as well as in Europe, though never to such devastating effect.
Hollande had returned to Paris from a trip to the southern city of Avignon shortly after receiving news of the attack.
He also called up army reservists to bolster the country’s security services that are stretched to the limit. All flags will be lowered across the city of Nice on Friday.
A concert by popstar Rihanna due Friday was cancelled in the wake of the attack, as well as the Nice Jazz festival.
“We saw hundreds of people rushing to get shelter”, she told AFP, still stunned.
“There was a lot of screams coming from ahead of us where the truck was”, she said.
“People were tripping over and trying to get into hotel lobbies and restaurants or auto parks or anywhere they could to get away from the street”.
The Promenade des Anglais was sealed off, crawling with police and ambulances as authorities from the local Alpes-Maritimes prefecture urged residents to stay indoors. Obama praised “the extraordinary resilience and democratic values that have made France an inspiration to the entire world ” noting that the attack occurring on Bastille Day.
The tournament brought an all-too-brief burst of joy to a gloomy France, bogged down after the two attacks in 2015, violent anti-government protests, strikes and floods.
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“It is a tragic paradox that the victims of the attack people celebrating liberty, quality and fraternity”.
