Tributes to the victims, seven years after the attacks in Paris

First modification: 11/13/2022 – 15:35Last modification: 11/13/2022 – 15:42

Silence fell over Paris. Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne paid tribute to the victims of the attacks on November 13, 2015, observing a minute’s silence at the sites of the attacks in Paris and Saint-Denis.

Borne was accompanied by the mayoress of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, and the presidents of the victims’ associations, as well as dozens of relatives who solemnly visited each of the sites where the attacks took place on the night of November 13 in Paris. , among them in the Bataclan concert hall.

In the ceremony, the names of the victims were heard, a wreath with flowers was placed and a minute of silence was observed. Several Parisian elected officials and members of the Government participated in the ceremonies in which sobriety reigned and which were carried out without any kind of speech.

“Today I think of all the victims of the attacks. For all the lives they took. To all those who experience the absence of a loved one every day. To all the survivors,” François Hollande, who was head of state, wrote on Twitter. when the attacks occurred. “Time does not erase memory or pain,” he added.

On the night of Friday, November 13, 2015, Parisian life went on as normal until, almost simultaneously, six bars and restaurants, as well as the perimeter of the Stade de France sports stadium, were attacked for hours.

A match between France and Germany was being played in the stadium, with the presence of the then heads of state, François Hollande and the German chancellor, Angela Merkel. There several explosions lit the alerts.

In another part of the French capital, an armed group opened fire on several bars and restaurants. Three other armed men broke into the Bataclan concert hall where the American band Eagles of Death Metal was performing. The attackers fired indiscriminately, killing 90 people and taking dozens of citizens hostage.

From years in prison to life imprisonment for the guilty

20 people were accused of participating and collaborating in the massacre. Many helped transport the attackers from Syria to Europe under false identities and were part of the logistics behind the deadliest attacks in France.

The marathon trial lasted 10 months and the Prosecutor’s Office requested sentences ranging from two years in prison to life imprisonment. The French Justice dedicated a good part of the process to listening in detail to the survivors and relatives of victims.

Salah Abdeslam, the only surviving Bataclan attacker, was sentenced to life in prison. The trial ended on June 29, 2022.

With Reuters and EFE