2016 Nice truck attack

celebrations on beach below Promenade des Anglais, 2014 On the morning before the attack, French President François Hollande said the national state of emergency, put in place after the November 2015 Paris attacks, would end after the 2016 Tour de France finished on 26 July 2016. France had just finished hosting the Euro 2016 football tournament, during which the country had extensive security measures in place. Some matches were played in Nice, ending with the England–Iceland match on 27 June. On the evening of 14 July in Nice, the Bastille Day celebrations on the waterfront Promenade des Anglais, dubbed "Prom'Party" by the city of Nice, drew crowds of 30,000 and included an aerial display by the French Air Force. The Promenade des Anglais had been closed to traffic and, as in preceding years, a long section had been converted into a pedestrian zone. The customary Bastille Day fireworks display took place between 22:00 and 22:20. ==Attack==

, stopped in the distance (large white truck in distant middle lane) on the Promenade des Anglais on the morning after the attack On 14 July in Nice, at approximately 22:30, just after the end of the Bastille Day fireworks display, a white Renault Midlum cargo truck emerged from the Magnan quarter of Nice turning eastward on to the Promenade des Anglais, then closed to traffic, near the Fondation Lenval Children's Hospital. Travelling at close to and mounting the pavement as if out of control, it hit and killed numerous bystanders before passing the Centre Universitaire Méditerranéen, where it was first reported by municipal police. from the children's hospital, at the intersection with Boulevard Gambetta, the truck accelerated and mounted the kerb to force its way through police barriers—a police car, a crowd control barrier and lane separators—marking the beginning of the pedestrianised zone. Having broken through the barrier, the truck, moving in a zigzag fashion, knocked down random members of the crowd milling about on the pavement and in the three traffic lanes on the seaward side of the Promenade. The driver tried to keep the truck on the pavement—returning to the road only when blocked by a bus shelter or pavilion—thus increasing the number of deaths. After reaching the Hotel Negresco, the speed of the truck, already travelling more slowly, was further slowed down by a passing cyclist, whose attempts to open the cabin door were abandoned after being threatened with a gun through the window. This was followed by a motorcyclist, who threw his scooter under the front wheels of the truck at the intersection with rue Meyerbeer, mounted the truck's running board and struck the driver before being hit with the butt of the driver's gun, suffering moderate injuries as he fell off the truck. The driver fired several shots at police from his 7.65 mm firearm, close to the Hotel Negresco, as police arrived; they returned fire with their 9mm Sig Sauer handguns, gave chase to the vehicle and attempted to disable it. The truck travelled a further until, in a badly damaged state, it came to halt at 22:35 next to the Palais de la Méditerranée approximately five minutes after the start of the attack. There, two national police officers shot and killed the driver. The entire attack took place over a distance of , between numbers 11 and 147 of the Promenade des Anglais, resulting in the deaths of 86 people and creating high levels of panic in the crowds. Some were injured as a result of jumping onto the pebbled beach several metres below the Promenade. In addition to the firearm used during the attack, an ammunition magazine, a fake Beretta pistol, a dummy grenade, a replica Kalashnikov rifle, and a replica M16 rifle were found in the cabin of the truck. Also recovered were a mobile phone and personal documents, including an identity card, a driver's licence, and credit cards. There were several pallets and a bicycle in the rear of the truck. ==Perpetrator==

Personal life French police identified the perpetrator as Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, a 31-year-old man of Tunisian nationality, born in Tunisia, with a French residency permit and living in Nice. His father said Lahouaiej-Bouhlel underwent psychiatric treatment before he moved to France. He married a French-Tunisian cousin, living in Nice, with whom he had three children. According to his wife's lawyer, he was repeatedly reported for domestic violence and the couple separated. After this separation, Lahouaiej-Bouhlel had a wild sex life according to the prosecutor, and had engaged in sexual relations with both men and women, according to an unnamed source. He was known to French police for five prior criminal offences; notably for threatening behaviour, violence, and petty theft. Neighbours reported that Lahouaiej-Bouhlel rarely spoke to them. François Molins, the prosecutor leading the inquiry into the possible involvement of organised Islamist terrorism, announced on 18 July that information gathered since the attack suggested that, except for a short period leading up to the attack, Lahouaiej-Bouhlel was "a young man completely uninvolved in religious issues and not a practising Muslim, who ate pork, drank alcohol, took drugs and had an unbridled sex life." Lahouaiej-Bouhlel sent small sums of money regularly to his family in Tunisia, according to his brother. Days before the attack, in a surprising move, Lahouaiej-Bouhlel persuaded some friends to smuggle bundles of cash worth 100,000 euros illegally to his family. Motives The investigation suggested that Lahouaiej-Bouhlel became radicalised shortly before the attack. Prosecutor Molins said that Lahouaiej-Bouhlel had a "clear, recent interest in the radical jihadist movement". with individuals in his neighborhood who were known to the French intelligence agencies as Islamic radicals. An intelligence source cautioned that this "could just be a coincidence, given the neighbourhood where he lived. Everyone knows everyone there. He seems to have known people who knew Omar Diaby", a known local Islamist believed to be linked with Al-Nusra Front. or a photo Prosecutor Molins said Lahouaiej-Bouhlel had expressed admiration for ISIL to one of the now-interrogated suspects. A few months before the attack, Lahouaiej-Bouhlel had shown friends an ISIL beheading video on his phone, In the weeks before the attack, Lahouaiej-Bouhlel consulted many websites with treatises on Quranic surahs, sites with Islamic religious chants, and sites of ISIL propaganda. Lahouaiej-Bouhlel grew a beard only eight days before the attack, which he told friends was for religious reasons. similar claims were circulated on social media and in the press. Officials have not confirmed the shouting of "Allahu Akbar", while the BBC reported that the rumours about it on social media were "fake". On 12 and 13 July 2016, Bouhlel returned several times to the Promenade des Anglais, the site of the attack, surveying the area in the rented truck. On 12 July, he took some selfies on the Promenade, as Molins confirmed on 18 July. Lahouaiej-Bouhlel's brother said he received images of Lahouaiej-Bouhlel laughing among the holiday crowds in Nice hours before the attack. ==Victims==

84 people were killed on the day and 450 injured, Fourteen of the dead were children. 434 people were admitted into hospital with injuries due to the attack; some of whom were not admitted immediately. Of the 86 dead, 43 were French nationals and the remaining 43 were foreign nationals of eighteen countries. By 19 July, French authorities had formally identified the initial 84 victims, with detailed lists published by Agence France-Presse. Two days later, the Hôtel de Ville in Nice was draped with two long black banners recording the names of those victims. } ==Investigation==

on the Promenade des Anglais was used for triage of the victims. which has national responsibility for combating terrorism, opened an inquiry into "murder and attempted murder by an organised gang connected to a terrorist organisation" and "criminal terrorist conspiracy". The investigations for the inquiry were assigned to the Central Directorate of the Judicial Police (DCPJ) and the General Directorate for Internal Security (DGSI). nor was he registered as a national security risk (fiche "S") with French authorities. • On 18 July, Molins said the attack could be described as "terrorism" as defined by French law. but was then released two days later. Also, a man was arrested on 15 July. On 25 July, two more men were arrested after photographs of them were found on Lahouaiej-Bouhlel's mobile phone. One was released after five days, While under arrest, he disclosed the location of a Kalashnikov rifle. On the night of the attack, at 22:27, he received a text message from Lahouaiej-Bouhlel: "I wanted to tell you that the pistol you brought me yesterday was very good, so bring five more from your friend's place. They're for Chokri and his friends". Molins, the French prosecutor, disclosed that Ramzi A. had a previous police record for petty crime and drugs. • Mohamed Walid G., a French-Tunisian born in Tunisia, aged 40 In January 2015, shortly after the attack on Charlie Hebdo, this suspect allegedly sent a text message to Lahouaiej-Bouhlel saying, "I am not Charlie ... I am happy, they have brought soldiers of Allah to finish the job." Between July 2015 and July 2016, Bouhlel and this suspect contacted each other by telephone 1,278 times. • Chokri C., a Tunisian aged 37. He was transferred to Paris on 1 August for further questioning. ==Reactions==

French government at half-mast in Tours on the day after the attack, which was followed by three days of national mourning 15 July French President François Hollande said that he had consulted Prime Minister Manuel Valls and Minister of the Interior Bernard Cazeneuve and was returning to Paris from Avignon, expecting to arrive in the French capital at 1:15 a.m. for an emergency Interior Ministry meeting regarding the attacks. At 12:59 a.m., Cazeneuve initiated the ORSEC plan, the French emergency plan for disasters. At 3:47 a.m., Hollande addressed the French nation in a televised broadcast from Paris. and linked the attack to Islamic terrorism, He announced a three-month extension of the state of emergency, previously due to end on 26 July, and announced that more security personnel would be deployed. Later that day, Prime Minister Manuel Valls announced three days of national mourning from 16 to 18 July. "We have an individual who was not known to intelligence services for activities linked to radical Islam"; when asked whether he could confirm that the attacker's motives were linked to jihadism, Cazeneuve replied, "No". Bernard Cazeneuve on 16 July, after ISIL had claimed the attacker as one of its soldiers, said: if Lahouaiej-Bouhlel was radicalised, "It seems that he was radicalised very quickly — in any case these are the elements that have come up from the testimony of the people around him." Cazeneuve on 16 or 17 July announced plans to increase security in response to the attack by calling 12,000 police reservists to add to the 120,000 person force. He urged "all patriotic citizens" to join the reserve forces to boost security following the attacks. 18 July and later On 18 July, France observed a one-minute silence in remembrance of those killed in the attack. In Nice, as the Prime Minister arrived to observe the silence, the crowd booed him and some shouted for his resignation, with some calling him a murderer. President Hollande was similarly booed by crowds when visiting Nice the day after the attack. The booing was described by BBC as "unprecedented", who commented that it was "a stark warning of how the mood in the country has changed" in comparison to public responses after other recent major terrorist attacks in France. A week after the attack, the anti-terror directorate of the National Police (SDAT) requested that the local authorities in Nice destroy CCTV footage of the attack, arguing that leaked images would compromise the dignity of victims and could be used as propaganda by terrorist organizations. The request has been refused by local authorities who have argued that the CCTV footage might provide evidence that the National Police had placed inadequate security measures on the Promenade des Anglais on 14 July. On 26 July 2016, three Nice residents who had chased the truck during the attack were presented with medals for bravery by the local authorities in Nice. French public ministry François Molins, prosecutor of the ministère public (le parquet) in Paris to become the Republican candidate for the April–May 2017 presidential election; and Christian Estrosi, former Nice mayor, raised the question of whether more could have been done to prevent the attack. In September 2016, François Fillon, the other Republican candidate in the French presidential election, published a book titled "Defeating Islamic Totalitarianism" (Vaincre le totalitarisme islamique), in which he advocated a stricter state surveillance on the Muslim community and more attention to the French identity. He also wrote that France was "at war" with radical Islam. International and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov lay flowers near French embassy in Moscow, 15 July 2016. Leaderships of 49 countries and five supranational bodies expressed abhorrence of the attack and condolences for families and for France. US President Barack Obama labelled the attack as possible terrorism, as did German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Claim of ISIL responsibility On 16 July, the Amaq News Agency, called Lahouaiej-Bouhlel "a soldier of the Islamic State." It cited an "insider source" which said Lahouaiej-Bouhlel "executed the operation in response to calls to target citizens of coalition nations, which fight the Islamic State". Later that same day, ISIL's official al-Bayan radio station said the attacker executed a "new, special operation using a truck" and "the crusader countries know that no matter how much they enforce their security measures and procedures, it will not stop the mujahideen from striking." Islamic and Christian responses The first Islamic funeral ceremony of victims of the attack took place on 19 July in the Ar-Rahma (The Mercifulness) mosque, the oldest in Nice and the largest in Alpes-Maritimes. Last honours of the Islamic community were rendered to a 23-year-old Tunisian woman, her 4-year-old child, and a young man. Rector and imam Otmane Aïssaoui said in his sermon, "The sole frontier for which one should halt is this: the respect for a man, for a woman, irrespective of their colour of skin, their origin. A truth one can find in the Gospel, in the Torah, even in Buddhism!" Citing a Quranic verse, he said, "At the Last Judgment, [Lahouaiej-Bouhlel] will be asked: 'why did you kill that little child of four years old?'" Also invited to speak was the priest of the nearby Catholic church Saint-Pierre d'Ariane. Father Patrick Bruzzone said, "My brothers ... I say 'my brothers' because, today more than ever, when one man is hurt, the whole of humanity is hurt." Social media Immediately after the attack, while it still remained unclear whether the threat had ended, people used social media, particularly Twitter, to help others find shelter, using the hashtag #PortesOuvertesNice (Open Doors Nice), a variation of a hashtag used in other recent attacks in France. On 14 and 15 July, the French government urged social media users to only share reliable information from official sources, while false rumours circulated that hostages had been taken, that the Eiffel Tower had been attacked and set on fire, and that Cannes had also been attacked. ==Impact==

Cultural Organisers of the 20th Nice Jazz Festival, scheduled to begin on 16 July, cancelled the event in the wake of the attack. Rihanna cancelled a concert scheduled as a part of her Anti World Tour for 15 July at Nice's Allianz Riviera. At London's Royal Albert Hall on 15 July, the opening night of the 2016 Proms Festival paid tribute to the people of Nice, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra performing a rendition of "La Marseillaise". In December 2016, an American musician faSade, who witnessed the attack, published a music video of a song that paid tribute to the victims, featuring images of the attack's aftermath. In August, the European Cycling Union decided to move the 2016 European Road Championships, which were to be hosted on 14–18 September in Nice, to Plumelec in the northwest of France, due to security concerns in Nice after the 14 July attack. Financial markets European stocks opened lower and then closed mixed on Friday 15 July (the day after the attacks) as investor sentiment was dampened by the attack in France. The pan-European STOXX 600 was down by 0.38%, the French CAC 40 by 0.4%, and German DAX by 0.4%. The British FTSE 100 fell by 0.2% before closing up by 0.22%, down at 0.32% in STOXX 600, 0.6% in CAC 40, and 0.01% in DAX. Airlines, along with other travel share, were some of the hardest hit companies, with Flybe and EasyJet down by around 3.7 per cent and three per cent respectively. Tourism Cancellations and last-minute changes to European holidays rose in the summer, with travellers increasingly concerned about the threat of terrorism. Other terrorist attacks in Belgium and Turkey prompted holidaymakers to cancel their bookings or seek out other destinations perceived to be safe. The Nice attack, along with the recent failed coup in Turkey, were expected to add to the pressure. "This is not going to be a good year," European Tour Operators Association chief executive Tom Jenkins said. "There is a real suppression of demand for destinations like Belgium and France." Tensions between Muslims and non-Muslims On the week after 14 July, some Nice inhabitants noticed and deplored increasing anti-Muslim and racist rhetoric in their quarters. Some non-Muslims said that their view on Muslims had changed. "We're in Europe and I think some of the oriental rites are somehow incompatible", a local man said. Before the attack, on 8 June, the carcass of a pig had been found in front of a mosque in Nice. Two suspected men were charged and the court's judgement was expected to be filed on 12 October. On the morning of 11 October, the imam of that same mosque found the head and pelt of a pig mounted before the mosque's entrance. Raids and house arrests under state of emergency As of August 2016, under the state of emergency put in force since November 2015 and extended after the Nice attack, By mid-November 2016, some people had been under house arrest for nearly a year during which no judicial inquiry against them had been started. ==See also==