Nice’s former mayor and a city official, Christian Estrosi said there appeared to be dozens of deaths.
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After the news of the attack by a truck that ran into crowds watching a fireworks display on the Bastille Day national holiday, killing at least 75 people and injuring scores, supporters of Daesh celebrated on social media. “That would mean we’re no longer a republic with the rule of law applied in all circumstances”, Hollande told journalists in a traditional Bastille Day interview.
French soldiers in the streets of Nice. “As we were running, you could tell the people in front of us had no idea that anything was going on, so we were running and grabbing people saying, ‘Run”.
The truck rammed into the crowd on the Promenade des Anglais seaside walk in the center of town, regional newspaper Nice Matin reported, citing its own reporter at the scene.
Police on Twitter told residents to stay calm and not leave their homes, though police told NBC News they were aware of an incident but were still investigating.
The attack has been described as “criminal” – however, in the early hours of this morning, it emerged that anti-terror investigators had taken over the probe into the Nice attacks.
“The driver was shot”.
Nearly exactly eight months ago Daesh militants killed 130 people in Paris.
France’s ambassador to the US, Gérard Araud, said on Twitter: “Again”.
“A fraction of a second later, an enormous white truck came along at a insane speed, turning the wheel to mow down the maximum number of people”, he said.
While no group has claimed responsibility for the event, President Barack Obama went so far as to call it a terror attack in a statement.
The man had opened fire on the crowd, local government chief Christian Estrosi told BFM TV, and weapons and grenades were found inside the truck after he was killed.
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A large section of the city – extremely popular with sun-seeking tourists – was cordoned off.
