France marks a decade since the Bastille Day truck attack in Nice that killed 86, as victims demand a trial on security failures

The Bastille Day attack

On the evening of 14 July 2016, as tens of thousands gathered on the Promenade des Anglais to watch the annual Bastille Day fireworks, a 19-tonne refrigerated lorry driven by Tunisian resident Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel barreled through the crowd for nearly two kilometres. The attack killed 86 people and injured more than 400, with some reports putting the injured count close to 500. Fifteen of the dead were children and teenagers; the youngest victim was two years old and the oldest 79. The attacker, who had made at least ten reconnaissance trips along the promenade before the attack, was shot dead by police after being stopped. The Islamic State group later claimed responsibility for the carnage.

Ten years of remembrance

Commemorations began on Sunday 12 July with a silent march along the same stretch of the promenade. Around 1,000 people, most dressed in white and carrying white roses, retraced the attacker's route, and nearly 300 relatives of the victims led the procession. A wreath-laying ceremony took place near the spot where the attacker was killed. On Monday evening, an interfaith service at Villa Masséna brought together Catholic, Orthodox, Jewish, Muslim, Protestant and Buddhist leaders. The names of all 86 victims were read aloud, and 86 candles were lit.

We pray for the bereaved families, for those wounded in body and in spirit, and for all those who still bear the scars of that night.

May peace be with everyone.

On Tuesday 14 July, President Macron presided over the main memorial ceremony. A minute of silence was observed before France's World Cup semi-final against Spain. Organisers noted that the victims reflected the city's diversity, hailing from around 20 countries and nearly one-third of them Muslims.

Unanswered questions and legal battles

Eight people have been convicted in connection with the attack, but the main perpetrator is dead. Victims' families and survivors are still demanding a trial to examine potential security lapses that allowed the lorry to breach the promenade. A police report from the era raised questions: why were no concrete barriers in place, despite the attacker's multiple reconnaissance trips? Why did Nice's extensive network of surveillance cameras not trigger a real-time alert? The attacker had been observed on the promenade dozens of times in the days before the attack without intervention.

A recent note from the Hexagone observatory highlights that nearly 300 people have been killed in France by Islamist terrorism since 2012. A researcher writing in Le Figaro warns that the ideology has survived the fall of the Islamic State and is reinventing itself.