French police have arrested two more people in connection with an attack that killed at least 84 people when a lorry deliberately drove into crowds celebrating the country’s main national holiday in Nice.
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Video shows the moment people realised the attack was occurring, with dozens mowed down by the truck driven by terrorist Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel.
French lawmakers on Wednesday approved a six-month rollover of emergency rule in the wake of last week’s truck attack on the city of Nice, the third deadly assault in 18 months for which the Islamist State militant group has claimed responsibility.
Mr Valls, who said security services have prevented 16 attacks over three years, said he believed Islamic State had manipulated an unstable individual to carry out the attack. His family have painted a picture of a man who suffered “psychiatric troubles” and was prone to depression and violent outbursts.
French authorities have yet to produce evidence of the 31-year-old Tunisian, shot dead by police in the attack, turning to radical Islam.
For decades Nice, better known for the super-yachts that anchor in its cobalt blue waters and palm-fringed boulevards, has been a gateway for waves of immigrants arriving from France’s former colonies such as Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria.
According to reports, Bouhlel visited the site of the attack in his rented truck on the two days before Thursday’s atrocity and had asked a van rental office for “the heaviest truck you have”.
“They will not take the promenade away from us”, she said. “Quite the opposite. We should be uniting together and defending the country”, said Boubekeur Bekri, adding that “a crime is a crime” regardless of faith.
Some 30,000 people were on the Promenade des Anglais at the time of the attack on Thursday night.
On Saturday, Interior Minister Bernard Cazenueve on Saturday called on “patriotic citizens” to become reservists to help relieve exhausted security forces.
Elsewhere in Nice were signs that the city is coming back to life.
After crisis talks in Paris, the French defence minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, noted that Isis had recently repeated calls for supporters to “directly attack the French, Americans, wherever they are and by whatever means”.
Cazeneuve says: “These links for now have not been established by the investigation”.
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Five people were already jailed on preliminary terrorism charges linked to the July 14 truck rampage by Tunisian driver Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, accused of helping him obtain a pistol and other support. Numerous dead and injured were children watching a fireworks display with their families.
