November 2015 Paris attacks
A series of coordinated Islamist terrorist attacks[13][14] took place on Friday, 13 November 2015[15][16] in Paris, France, and the city's northern suburb, Saint-Denis. Beginning at 21:16, three suicide bombers struck outside the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, during an international football match, after failing to gain entry to the stadium. Another group of attackers then fired on crowded cafés and restaurants in Paris, with one of them also detonating an explosive, killing himself in the process. A third group carried out another mass shooting and took hostages at an Eagles of Death Metal concert attended by 1,500 people in the Bataclan theatre, leading to a stand-off with police. The attackers were either shot or detonated suicide vests when police raided the theatre.[17]
For other uses, see Paris attacks.November 2015 Paris attacks
Paris and Saint-Denis, France
21:16, 13 November 2015 –
00:58, 14 November 2015 (CET)
- Near Stade de France[C 1]
- Rues Bichat and Alibert (Le Petit Cambodge; Le Carillon)[C 2]
- Rue de la Fontaine-au-Roi (Café Bonne Bière; La Casa Nostra)[C 3]
- The Bataclan theatre[C 4]
- Rue de Charonne (La Belle Équipe)[C 5]
- Boulevard Voltaire (Comptoir Voltaire)[C 6]
Civilians
9
Islamic extremism,[9][10] retaliation against French airstrikes on ISIL[11][12]
The attackers killed 130 people,[3] including 90 at the Bataclan theatre.[18][19][20] Another 416 people were injured,[6][21] almost 100 critically.[7][8] Seven of the attackers were also killed.[5] The attacks were the deadliest in the European Union since the Madrid train bombings of 2004.[22] The attacks came one day after similar attacks in Beirut, Lebanon. France had been on high alert since the January 2015 attacks on Charlie Hebdo offices and a Jewish supermarket in Paris that killed 17 people.[23]
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed responsibility for the attacks (as they had done with the Beirut attacks a day prior),[9][10] saying that it was retaliation for French airstrikes on Islamic State targets in Syria and Iraq.[11][12] The president of France, François Hollande, said the attacks were an act of war by Islamic State.[24][25][26] The attacks were planned in Syria and organised by a terrorist cell based in Belgium.[27] Two of the Paris attackers were Iraqis, but most were born in France or Belgium,[28][29] and had fought in Syria.[30] Some of the attackers had returned to Europe among the flow of migrants and refugees from Syria.[31][32]
In response to the attacks, a three-month state of emergency was declared across the country to help fight terrorism, which involved the banning of public demonstrations, and allowing the police to carry out searches without a warrant, put anyone under house arrest without trial, and block websites that encouraged acts of terrorism.[33] On 15 November, France launched the biggest airstrike of Opération Chammal, its part in the bombing campaign against Islamic State.[34] The authorities searched for surviving attackers and accomplices. On 18 November, the suspected lead operative of the attacks, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, was killed in a police raid in Saint-Denis, along with two others.[35]
Security changes[edit]
In France[edit]
In response to the attacks, France was put under an état d'urgence (state of emergency) for the first time since the 2005 riots,[25] borders were temporarily closed, and 1,500 soldiers were called in to help the police maintain order in Paris.[23][200][243] The plan blanc (Île de France) and plan rouge (global), two contingency plans for times of emergency, were immediately activated.[244][245][246]
Flights to and from Charles de Gaulle Airport and Orly Airport were mostly unaffected.[74] American Airlines delayed flights to Paris until further notice.[247] Many Paris Métro stations in the 10th and 11th arrondissements were shut down because of the attacks.[200][248] Uber suspended car hails in Paris after the attacks.[249]
All state schools and universities in Paris remained closed the next day.[250][251] Sports events in France for the weekend of 14–15 November were postponed or cancelled.[252][253] Disneyland Paris, which had operated every day since opening in 1992, closed its parks as a mark of respect for those who died in the attacks.[251][254] The Eiffel Tower, a Paris landmark visited by 20,000 people a day, was closed for two days.[251][255] Other venues that were to remain closed included shops and cinemas.[251] Protests were banned until 19 November,[251] while bands such as U2, Foo Fighters, Motörhead, and Coldplay cancelled performances in Paris.[256]
The week after 20 November, Hollande was planning to travel to the US and Russia to discuss greater international co-operation against ISIL.[257]
Related incidents[edit]
Hanover bombing plot[edit]
A few days after the attacks, on 17 November, a football friendly set to be played at HDI-Arena in Hanover between Germany (who had just been present at the Stade de France during the Paris attacks) and the Netherlands was cancelled and thousands of football fans evacuated from the arena following a bomb threat.[285] The match, having been hailed as a "symbol of freedom" after the Paris attacks, was set to be attended in a show of solidarity with France by German chancellor Angela Merkel, vice-chancellor Sigmar Gabriel, several other German government ministers, as well as Dutch defence minister Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert and health and sport minister Edith Schippers.[285]
According to a French intelligence dossier, five bombs had been prepared to be detonated at or around the stadium by a named five-member terror cell in a series of coordinated bomb attacks.[286] German authorities refused to give more details on findings, with Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere claiming that "some of these answers would alarm the public."[286] While police claimed to not have found any explosives, German newspapers published allegations of a cover-up, which claimed that a paramedic had witnessed explosives hidden in an ambulance at the stadium, before being told by special forces at the scene "to not talk about it."[286] Another newspaper claimed it had been a truck bomb disguised as an ambulance.[287][288] Three police officers were disciplined for leaking information about alleged bomb finds.[286]
At the same time also in Hanover, the TUI Arena was evacuated before a concert by the band Söhne Mannheims, and a train station was closed off after a suspicious device was found.[287][288] Later the same evening, two Air France flights headed from the United States to Paris were diverted to Salt Lake City, Utah[289] and Halifax, Nova Scotia because of bomb threats.[290] The events followed the previous day, when a football match set to be played in Brussels between Belgium and Spain had also been cancelled over security concerns.[287][288]
Media depictions[edit]
One of the people who was present in the Bataclan theatre on 13 November 2015 during the terrorist attacks was a French artist who works under the pseudonym Fred Dewilde. In October 2016, he published a graphic novel about his firsthand experience of these tragic events, named Mon Bataclan.[299][300][301]
On 27 April 2016, American rock band Pierce the Veil released a song titled "Circles", inspired by the November 2015 Paris terrorist attacks.[302]
On 6 June 2018, Gédéon and Jules Naudet released the documentary November 13: Attack on Paris.[303]
On 5 October 2022, the French film November was released, directed by Cédric Jimenez and starring Jean Dujardin, that depicts the investigations and the interventions of the police (in particular of the anti-terrorist sub-directorate) during the five days which followed the attacks.
Alice Winocour's 2022 feature film Revoir Paris[304] (Paris Memories) looked at the effects of the aftermath of a group of people trapped in an attached bistro and starred Virginie Efira.