France has marked five years to the day since terrorists carried out a series of coordinated terrorist attacks across Paris, killing 130 people, reports The Guardian.
The prime minister, Jean Castex, and the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, carried out a series of silent ceremonies at each of the sites where the gunmen and suicide bombers loyal to Islamic State struck on 13 November 2015.
It was France’s worst peacetime attack and led to a wave of international sympathy for the traumatised nation.
On Friday, Castex and Hidalgo laid wreaths at the seven sites where the terrorists struck. The ceremonies were brief and relatively discreet. This year the public had been advised to remain at home under the Covid-19 lockdown rules, but several people turned out anyway to place flowers and cards in memory of the victims.
Friday’s commemorations came as France remained on high alert after three recent attacks by Islamist extremists, including the beheading of high-school teacher Samuel Paty and the killing of three people in a church in Nice.
In 2015, the first attack happened at 9.15pm on Friday 13 November outside the Stade de France during an international football match. Shortly afterwards, another group of heavily armed terrorists drove around the capital’s trendy districts north of the Seine shooting at crowded bars, cafés and restaurants.