Five years after Paris attacks, France still traumatised and remains on edge

Name: Malaysia’s ex-PM says Muslims ‘have right to kill millions of French’ hours after France attack
Uploaded: 2020-11-13T13:26:08.000Z
Duration: 5 min 32 s
Description: Malaysia’s ex-PM says Muslims ‘have right to kill millions of French’ hours after France attack

The 2015 carnage saw 130 people killed when suicide bombers attacked the Stade de France stadium and the Bataclan concert hall

‘Five years later, the most difficult thing is still the date of November 13 and all that surrounds it,’ says a survivor

3-MIN READ3-MIN

French Prime Minister Jean Castex and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo lay a wreath outside the Bataclan concert venue on Friday. Photo: Reuters

Agence France-Presse

Published: 9:26pm, 13 Nov 2020Updated: 9:25pm, 13 Nov 2020

France on Friday marked five years since a squad of jihadist attackers went on a killing rampage in Paris in its worst peacetime atrocity, with the psychological wounds still raw, especially after a string of new attacks.

The night of carnage on November 13, 2015 saw 130 people killed and 350 wounded when Islamist suicide bombers and gunmen attacked the Stade de France stadium, bars and restaurants in central Paris and the Bataclan concert hall.

Prime Minister Jean Castex and Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo attended small memorial ceremonies, scaled down due to the coronavirus pandemic, outside the sites of the attacks in Paris such as the Stade de France, the bar Le Carillon and the restaurant Le Petit Cambodge.

“Today, five years on, Paris remembers,” tweeted Hidalgo, using as a hashtag the Latin-language nautical motto of Paris – Fluctuat Nec Mergitur (She is Rocked but does not Sink).

The sheer horror of the attacks, which were claimed by extremists from Islamic State group, left scars that have still not healed while the security threat to France has not diminished.

“Five years later, the most difficult thing is still the date of November 13 and all that surrounds it,” said David Fritz Goeppinger, who survived the Bataclan massacre and wrote a book A Day in Our Lives to help overcome the experience.

“It’s really hard for me to say ‘today, I’m better or today, that’s it … Post-traumatic stress is not forgotten,” he said.

05:32

Malaysia’s ex-PM says Muslims ‘have right to kill millions of French’ hours after France attack