{"id":566945,"date":"2025-11-13T05:22:28","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T05:22:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/566945\/"},"modified":"2025-11-13T05:22:28","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T05:22:28","slug":"the-stade-de-france-terrorist-attacks-ten-years-on-there-was-a-huge-boom-and-my-body-shook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/566945\/","title":{"rendered":"The Stade de France terrorist attacks, ten years on: \u2018There was a huge boom and my body shook\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

When the second suicide bomber detonated his explosive vest outside the Stade de France, Paul-Henri Baure was standing less than 10 metres away.<\/p>\n

It was Friday, 13 November 2015 and Baure, then aged 64 and a security officer from Marseille, was working as a steward at a friendly match between France and Germany that would become notorious for reasons nobody could have anticipated. The bomber, he was later told, had backed away from the entrance at Gate H after refusing to be patted down by another steward. Baure had not noticed him.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of a sudden, there was an explosion,\u201d he tells The Athletic. \u201cI found myself on the ground with a pain in my left ankle, ringing in my ears and a wound like a paper cut near my eye. In the minutes that followed, I felt a lot of pain.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt the force of the blast \u2013 everything happened so quickly. I thought there\u2019d been a gas leak beneath the pavement but, at the hospital afterwards, the police told me: \u2018No, no, it wasn\u2019t a gas explosion.\u2019 You never imagine someone is going to want to blow themselves up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fortunately for Baure, there was a Red Cross station right next to his security post meaning he received immediate medical attention. After being taken to the stadium infirmary, he was transported to a nearby hospital for treatment.<\/p>\n

The damage sustained to his left leg would prevent him from returning to work for two and a half years. As a former soldier in the French army\u2019s medical corps, he is quick to play down the extent of his injuries, but he knows too that things could have turned out very differently.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything was OK,\u201d he says. \u201cBut I could very easily not be here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Rescuers<\/p>\n

\n Rescuers and police gather outside the Stade de France (Francois Guillot\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

At the exact same moment, a few yards further away, 39-year-old grassroots football coordinator Denis Carrel and a friend were hurrying past Gate H. They had travelled to the game from the town of Chateauroux in central France on a work outing, but their bus had been caught up in traffic, causing them to miss kick-off.<\/p>\n

Knowing the layout of the stadium from previous visits, Carrel let the 50 or so other people in the group go into the ground while he made a note of where the bus ended up parking. He and his friend were trying to find the right entrance gate when the second bomber struck.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuddenly, there was a huge boom,\u201d Carrel says. \u201cThe whoosh ruffled my trousers and my body shook. I didn\u2019t look, but I remember a woman saying: \u2018There\u2019s a man there!\u2019 People were screaming and shouting. I said to my colleague: \u2018This is serious.\u2019 Then I started running.<\/p>\n

\u201cI positioned myself behind a line of police officers and the first thing that came to mind was: \u2018What have I done with my son? I\u2019ve let go of my son\u2019s hand.\u2019 But then I remembered I\u2019d bought a shirt for him and it was in my bag. I thought: \u2018No, he\u2019s not with me, because otherwise he\u2019d be wearing this shirt.\u2019 I don\u2019t know what had happened in my head.\u201d<\/p>\n

After walking along the northern side of the stadium to Gate N, where they had previously been told to enter, Carrel and his friend were informed by a steward that the stadium had been locked down so they would not be able to pass through the security gates.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told him: \u2018Listen, something serious has happened. We just want to come in so we can be safe,\u2019\u201d Carrel says. \u201cHe said: \u2018For the time being, I\u2019ve been told not to open the gates.\u2019 Me and my colleague put our backs to the security barrier and we studied everyone who walked past us. We just thought: \u2018Let\u2019s hope there\u2019s not another bomber.\u2019 We\u2019d realised that it was a bomb, given the boom it had made.\u201d<\/p>\n

After several anxious minutes, the pair were told that the stadium would not be re-opening before the end of the game so they began to walk back towards their bus.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were police officers everywhere with guns raised,\u201d Carrel says. \u201cThey told us to go past with our hands in the air. We walked like that for about 500 metres. We still didn\u2019t really know what had happened.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe only found out when we got to the bus, because there were two police officers there holding mirrors underneath it (to check for explosive devices). We asked the police officers and one of them said: \u2018Something serious is happening in Paris.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Spectators<\/p>\n

\n Spectators outside the Stade de France leave the scene after the stadium had been locked by authorities (Franck Fife\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The suicide bombings at the Stade de France marked the beginning of a murderous four-hour assault on Paris by a 10-man Islamist terror cell that would leave 130 people dead and over 400 injured. It was the deadliest attack on the French capital since World War II.<\/p>\n

Three suicide bombers (known in French as kamikazes) targeted France\u2019s national stadium in Saint-Denis, five miles north of central Paris, during the national side\u2019s game against Germany. The first bomber detonated his device near Gate D on the stadium\u2019s eastern flank after being refused entry to the ground, killing a 63-year-old Portuguese chauffeur called Manuel Colaco Dias.<\/p>\n

Other than the bombers themselves, there were no other fatalities after the second and third blasts, although the latter, which occurred outside a McDonald\u2019s restaurant a little distance away from the ground, left 50 people injured \u2014 seven of them seriously.<\/p>\n

In addition to the physical injuries, many of those caught up in what happened were left with psychological trauma to process.<\/p>\n

As France marks the 10th anniversary of the attacks, it remains a night that nobody who was there will ever forget.<\/p>\n

The sound of the first suicide bombing \u2014 a deep, heavy boom \u2014 thundered across the stadium 16 minutes into the game.<\/p>\n

Assuming that it was simply a smoke bomb, which are often noisily detonated by supporters during league matches in France, fans reacted with ironic cheers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember, I was on the bench and I was next to (No 2 goalkeeper) Steve Mandanda,\u201d former France midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin tells The Athletic. \u201cWe heard the first explosion and Steve turned around and said something like: \u2018Oh la la, they\u2019re not messing around!\u2019 We took it as a joke.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d heard firecrackers at games before \u2014 not so much at the Stade de France, it\u2019s true \u2014 but we obviously had no idea what was going on.\u201d<\/p>\n

The second explosion, three minutes later \u2014 just as loud, but with an even more resonant echo \u2014 prompted a similar reaction inside the ground. But on TF1\u2019s live television broadcast, Patrice Evra could be seen looking towards the source of the noise with a concerned expression on his face as he played the ball back to a team-mate on France\u2019s left flank.<\/p>\n

Some of the 79,000 spectators, meanwhile, were beginning to feel uneasy.<\/p>\n

\"Patrice<\/p>\n

\n Patrice Evra, left, Morgan Schneiderlin, right, playing for France against Germany the night of the attack (Photo by Matthias Hangst\/Bongarts\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the first bomb exploded outside, it was pretty loud,\u201d recalls Till Bajohr, a German fan who attended the game while studying for a master\u2019s degree in Paris. \u201cPeople were applauding and laughing, but it didn\u2019t feel right because it didn\u2019t sound like one of those firecrackers people let off in stadiums.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the second one happened, it already felt that this might be something else.\u201d<\/p>\n

The game continued until half-time, Olivier Giroud giving France a 1-0 lead in stoppage time. By this point, 39 people had been fatally wounded in the attacks on cafes and restaurants in Paris\u2019 10th and 11th arrondissements, while the bloody siege of the Bataclan concert hall, which would claim the lives of 90 people, had begun.<\/p>\n

French President Francois Hollande was discreetly ushered out of the ground by his security detail. A helicopter appeared above the stadium and the streets outside became thronged with emergency vehicles.<\/p>\n

With phone networks jammed, as they inevitably are whenever thousands of people attend a live sporting event or concert, news of what had happened outside and what was unfolding in Paris slowly filtered into the stadium. But up in the press box, where journalists covering the game had access both to wi-fi and live TV feeds, the carnage in the French capital was playing out with harrowing clarity.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy half-time, I realised that something was going on,\u201d says Scottish journalist Andy Scott, who was reporting on the game for Agence France-Presse (AFP). \u201cWe saw updates coming in on Twitter of shootings taking place around Paris. We went into the press room at half-time and saw the updates on the rolling news channels.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was very clear that there were attacks going on in the city and probably in a coordinated fashion. But it took a while for people in the stands to realise.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fearful of allowing spectators to leave before the area around the stadium had been secured and anxious not to create panic, Hollande authorised the game to be played to its conclusion, but a decision was taken not to inform the two sets of players about what was happening. Former French Football Federation (FFF) press officer Philippe Tournon says that he did not find out until shortly before the end of the game.<\/p>\n

\"French<\/p>\n

\n French President Francois Hollande addresses reporters near the Bataclan concert hall in the early hours of November 14 (Miguel Medina\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe atmosphere on the bench was completely normal (in the second half),\u201d he says. \u201cWe weren\u2019t talking about a terrorist attack or anything like that.<\/p>\n

\u201cThree minutes from the end of the match, I went to see TF1\u2019s touchline reporter to ask him which players they wanted for the post-match interview. He had a very grave expression and he said: \u2018No, no, we\u2019re not doing any interviews. We\u2019re going off air straight away. Something very serious has happened and there are people dead in Paris.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Many of the players did not learn of the night\u2019s horrors until they passed by a TV stationed in the tunnel at the end of a 2-0 France win that had long become an irrelevance.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat was crazy was that we didn\u2019t know anything during the match,\u201d says Schneiderlin, who came on as an 81st-minute substitute. \u201cIt was only at the end of the match, when we saw on the TV screens: \u2018Attack ongoing.\u2019 I remember pointing at the TV with another player and saying: \u2018What is going on?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cThen we go into the changing room and we get a real smack in the head. Everyone\u2019s face is downcast and the head of security tells us that, at the request of the government, we\u2019re going to have to stay put.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amid the confusion that took hold at the end of the match, some of the players\u2019 families found themselves running down onto the pitch in panic, along with thousands of other supporters, after a false rumour spread that terrorists had entered the stadium.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople were shouting: \u2018They\u2019re in the stadium, they\u2019re in the stadium!\u2019\u201d remembers Camille Schneiderlin, Morgan\u2019s wife. \u201cPeople started panicking and running everywhere. And when you see people running, you start running as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour heart starts beating at 100 miles an hour. And your first reflex is to find somewhere to hide. Some of the unused seats were covered by tarpaulins and we decided that we\u2019d hide under there if they came in. We really thought they were there.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all found ourselves running onto the pitch to take refuge and we were all looking at each other, not knowing what to do. But then a security agent for the France team came and found us and led us back into a lounge. Then we started to feel a bit safer.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the sombre quiet of the changing room, the players\u2019 focus quickly switched to France forward Antoine Griezmann, who had a gut feeling that his sister, Maud, was attending the concert by American rock group Eagles of Death Metal that was taking place at the Bataclan.<\/p>\n

After several agonising hours of unanswered phone calls to her and anguished conversations with his parents, who had attended the game, Griezmann learned that although Maud had indeed been at the Bataclan when the terrorists burst through the doors, she had escaped unhurt. \u201cThanks to God, my sister was able to get out of the Bataclan,\u201d he wrote in a 3.30am Twitter post. \u201cAll my prayers go to the victims and their families.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hours later, France midfielder Lassana Diarra discovered that his cousin, Asta Diakite, had been killed in her car after gunmen opened fire on Rue Bichat near the Canal Saint-Martin in eastern Paris.<\/p>\n

In a statement, Diarra wrote that he had lost \u201ca big sister\u201d and added: \u201cIn this climate of terror, it\u2019s important for all of us who are representatives of our country and its diversity to speak out and remain united against a horror that has neither colour nor religion.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Lassana<\/p>\n

\n The cousin of France midfielder Lassana Diarra, left, was killed in the attacks (Photo by Boris Streubel\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The German team\u2019s hotel in western Paris had been the subject of a bomb threat earlier that morning and they were advised not to return to it.<\/p>\n

After France coach Didier Deschamps\u2019 offer for Germany\u2019s players and officials to spend the night at Clairefontaine \u2014 French football\u2019s national headquarters \u2014 was politely declined on account of there being insufficient space to accommodate their 150-strong delegation, he decided that he and his players would remain at the stadium until their visitors had found a plane to take them home.<\/p>\n

German Football Association president Reinhard Rauball called it \u201can outstanding gesture of camaraderie\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mattresses were brought out for the players to sleep on and they sat around talking and eating sandwiches together until the Germans were able to leave to catch a flight back to Frankfurt in the early hours of Saturday morning.<\/p>\n

Once the panic and confusion that had descended at the final whistle had dissipated, fans were evacuated from the stadium calmly. One video posted on social media showed supporters defiantly singing La Marseillaise, the French national anthem, on their way out. Those who returned to central Paris on public transport found the city\u2019s transport network eerily quiet.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember everything being very calm when we were being led out of the stadium,\u201d says German fan Bajohr. \u201cThere was no panic or anything. It was quite a scene when we came out because there were helicopters everywhere and policemen in tactical gear. We rode the train back into the city and everything was just deserted.\u201d<\/p>\n

At around midnight, AFP reporter Scott hitched a lift back into the city centre with two colleagues.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the eeriest experience of my life,\u201d he says. \u201cYou think of that scene in the film 28 Days Later where the guy is walking through the empty streets of London \u2014 this is what that was like. There was nobody around.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe crossed the River Seine and you come to the Assemblee Nationale, the lower house of parliament in France. And it was surrounded by the army. Soldiers standing there, ready to fire, ready for a showdown. I\u2019ve never seen anything like it. It actually makes me quite emotional, thinking about it now. It was terrifying. It was like: \u2018This place is at war.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Having said goodbye to their German counterparts, France\u2019s players eventually boarded their team bus shortly before 3am and arrived back at Clairefontaine \u2014 nestled in a forest near the town of Rambouillet, 30 miles south west of Paris \u2014 around an hour later.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe atmosphere on the bus was heavy,\u201d recalls Schneiderlin. \u201cWhen we got to Clairefontaine, they always put something on for us to eat. But we didn\u2019t hang around for long at the table. We all went up to our rooms.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were scheduled to train the following afternoon and we were due to meet for lunch at midday. But I spent the whole night watching the rolling news on BFM and I didn\u2019t get any sleep at all. I think it was the same for lots of the others.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although the players were unanimously reluctant to play in France\u2019s friendly against England three days later, FFF president Noel Le Graet decreed that the game would go ahead. The fixture at Wembley provided the scene for a touching moment of solidarity.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn London, we were welcomed with human warmth and sympathy everywhere we went,\u201d says Tournon. \u201cThe Wembley arch was lit up red, white and blue, the words to La Marseillaise were displayed on the big screens and Prince William laid a wreath before the game. We weren\u2019t really in the right state of mind for the match, but the welcome we got from the English was remarkable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Wembley's<\/p>\n

\n Wembley\u2019s arch was lit up like the French tricolour before the match between England and France days after the Paris attacks\u00a0 (Catherine Ivill \u2013 AMA\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

France had already been in a state of high alert following the Charlie Hebdo shootings in January 2015, but security arrangements around Les Bleus were reinforced after the Stade de France attacks. The number of security personnel accompanying the team was bolstered and plain-clothes police officers were stationed at Clairefontaine whenever the players were present.<\/p>\n

Although the following year\u2019s European Championship in France passed off without incident, the country was plunged into mourning again just four days after the hosts\u2019 loss to Portugal in the final when a Tunisia-born terrorist drove a 19-tonne cargo truck into crowds celebrating Bastille Day on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, leaving 86 people dead and 458 injured.<\/p>\n

No sooner had France\u2019s tears dried than the nation found itself weeping again.<\/p>\n

Baure, the Stade de France steward, came face to face with some of the people behind the November 2015 attacks when he testified during their trial at the Palais de Justice in Paris, which began in September 2021 and lasted for 10 months.<\/p>\n

All 20 defendants were convicted, including Salah Abdeslam, the only surviving member of the 10-man attack unit, who dropped the three suicide bombers off outside the stadium but later ditched his own explosive vest in a rubbish bin in the southern Paris suburb of Montrouge. His older brother, Brahim, blew himself up inside the Comptoir Voltaire cafe, injuring 15 people.<\/p>\n

Abdeslam proved a volatile presence during the trial, angrily castigating the judges over his treatment, initially refusing to answer questions and at one point claiming he had decided not to detonate his suicide vest out of humanitarian empathy.<\/p>\n

He was sentenced to life in prison without parole.<\/p>\n

What did Baure make of him? \u201cC\u2019est un pauvre gars,\u201d he replies dismissively. A poor guy. \u201cBut it was very important (to testify). Because we had to be recognised as victims.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carrel saw a psychologist after the attacks to help him come to terms with what he had witnessed having found the days immediately after his return from the Stade de France \u201cvery difficult\u201d. Although he shudders at the thought of how close he came to serious harm, he has never forgotten that others paid a far heavier price.<\/p>\n

\u201cI could have died,\u201d he says gravely. \u201cIf I\u2019d been 30 metres closer, I would have been right next to him (the suicide bomber)\u2026 But when you consider all the terrible incidents that took place in Paris, with families gunned down, people wounded and people left handicapped to this day, it helps you put things in perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ten years to the day since the attacks, commemorations to mark the anniversary will take place prior to France\u2019s World Cup qualifying match against Ukraine in Paris on Thursday.<\/p>\n

A moment of silence will be observed ahead of kick-off and several people who were present at the Stade de France that night will attend the match as guests of the FFF. They include security guard Salim Toorabally, who was hailed as a hero after preventing one of the bombers from forcing his way into the stadium at Gate L, along with representatives of the police and fire services.<\/p>\n

\"Salim<\/p>\n

\n Salim Toorabally, pictured in 2016 outside the Stade de France where he hindered a terrorist from entering the stadium during the attacks (Leo Novel\/picture alliance via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Ukraine being no stranger to bloodshed either, a \u201cFootball for Peace\u201d banner will also be displayed in the centre circle before kick-off in acknowledgement of the country\u2019s ongoing conflict with Russia.<\/p>\n

An impasse in negotiations between GL Events, the new operator of the Stade de France, and the FFF means that the game will take place at the Parc des Princes in Boulogne-Billancourt, west of central Paris, rather than at the scene of the 2015 attacks. Although the echoes of that November night will consequently ring a little less loudly, Deschamps has confessed he would prefer not to be playing on the exact date of the anniversary.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, deep down, if we could have avoided playing on November 13, it would have been good,\u201d he told reporters after announcing his squad for France\u2019s games against Ukraine and Azerbaijan.<\/p>\n

Lucas Digne is the only current member of the France squad who was involved in the fateful game against Germany 10 years ago, but captain Kylian Mbappe said that the events of that night carried deep resonance for all of his team-mates.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was at Monaco. I watched the match and I followed the news like everyone else did,\u201d the Real Madrid striker, who was 16 and three weeks shy of his professional debut when the attacks took place, told a press conference this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was fear as well, because it was near where I live \u2014 my parents still lived in Bondy. You don\u2019t know what\u2019s happening, you call your loved ones, then you see the atrocities that are taking place and you\u2019re just hoping it stops. It was a terrible moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlaying on the day of the 10th anniversary is special, but not in a good sense. We\u2019ll try to pay homage throughout the day to all the people who lost their lives, all the people who were injured and all the people who were traumatised by this tragic event.\u201d<\/p>\n

If France win, they will secure qualification for next summer\u2019s World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico, four years on from their penalty shootout defeat by Lionel Messi\u2019s Argentina in the 2022 final in Doha. But as much as everyone associated with Les Bleus will be eager to look forward, it will also, inescapably, be an occasion for many in France to look back.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When the second suicide bomber detonated his explosive vest outside the Stade de France, Paul-Henri Baure was standing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":566946,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5309],"tags":[2766,2000,299,157951,36,55985,7068,6544,101,10031],"class_list":{"0":"post-566945","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-france","8":"tag-culture","9":"tag-eu","10":"tag-europe","11":"tag-fifa-mens-world-cup","12":"tag-france","13":"tag-international-football","14":"tag-ligue-1","15":"tag-paris-saint-germain","16":"tag-premier-league","17":"tag-soccer"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115540720477075039","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=566945"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566945\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/566946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=566945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=566945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=566945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}