President Francois Hollande said the country would observe 3 days of mourning as he warned the death toll could rise further, with more than 50 people still fighting for their lives. The president of the Provence Alpes Cote d’Azur regional council, Christian Estrosi, said in a message posted to Twitter that dozens of people appear to have been killed.
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The identities of the victims testified to France’s diverse society and to the worldwide appeal of the tony French Riviera. A vacationing father and his 11-year-old son from Lakeway, Texas. The dead were marked by rectangular orange and white traffic-control barriers that stood like rows of tombstones.
The attack is the third of its kind in France since the beginning of 2015, and a state of emergency in place since 130 people were killed in and around Paris last November is to be extended for another three months. “Yes, it is a terrorist act and we shall see what links there are with terrorist organisations”.
French citizens are clearly reaching their limit.
Hollande described the incident as a “terrorist attack” in a sombre televised address, adding that “France was struck on its national day… the symbol of freedom”. “The whole of France is facing the threat of Islamist terrorism”.
“There are French among the victims and also many foreigners from every continent and many children, young children”, Hollande said after visiting a hospital.
However, opposition leaders said Friday that the Nice attack shows those moves by Hollande were not sufficient to counter terrorism.
“I kept yelling at him, waving with my hands to stop and trying to tell him that there is a lot of people under his truck – dead already”.
Belgium, Germany and Italy stepped up security along their borders on Friday, in a measure of fears that the violence in France could spill into neighboring countries. Belgium – which was struck by a bomb attack at the Brussels airport and a subway station in March – is particularly nervous ahead of its own national day Thursday.
French authorities were investigating whether the 31-year-old lorry driver had acted alone or with accomplices, and if his motives were connected to radical Islam.
Bouhlel, 31, was originally from Tunisia. Most recently, he had been given a suspended six-month prison sentence related to a January assault, Molins said. He said Bouhlel drank alcohol and “even took drugs”.
Bouhel was married with three children but it was reported that he and his wife were going through divorce proceedings. The prosecutor said the suspect’s ex-wife was taken in for questioning.
Police researchers inspect the scene where a truck crashed late 14 July 2016 into the crowd during the Bastille Day celebrations in Nice, France, 15 July 2016.
Police found one pistol and various fake weapons in the truck’s cabin.
One woman, Nataje, 52, said she heard a “boom” as the truck began accelerating into spectators on the Promenade des Anglais, the showpiece coastal road in the southern French city. The truck drove for around two kilometres down the boulevard, brutally mowing down people left and right until police officers shot and killed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel outside a hotel and casino.
A French parliamentary inquiry last week criticised numerous failings by the intelligence services over the Paris attacks.
Witnesses described confusion and chaos Thursday night as hundreds of panicked bystanders ran to try to escape the deadly truck.
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A United States student, Nicolas Leslie, 20, was missing, the University of California at Berkeley said.
