PARIS (AP) \u2014 Anne-Laure, Djamila, Justine, Guillaume, Nick and so many others \u2014 sons, daughters, mothers and fathers slain by Islamic State group gunmen and suicide bombers in Paris were fondly remembered Thursday as France commemorated the night of terror a decade ago that scarred and reshaped the country.<\/p>\n
With minutes of silence and somber readings of the 132 victims\u2019 names<\/a>, the French capital mourned the dead and innocence it lost on Nov. 13, 2015, but also proudly recalled how Parisians came together, looked after each other and slowly but surely rebounded<\/a> in the wake of the three-hour series of coordinated assaults targeting the packed Bataclan concert hall<\/a>, joyful caf\u00e9s<\/a> and the national stadium<\/a> where France\u2019s soccer team was playing<\/a>. <\/p>\n The mental scars Salim Toorabally suffered as a result of the Paris terror attacks 10 years ago still affect him today. It was Toorabally who stopped Bilal Hadfi, one of the three militants who targeted the national stadium on November 13, 2015, from entering the stadium. (AP Video: Alexander Turnbull)<\/p>\n The bloodshed was France\u2019s deadliest in peacetime<\/a> \u2014 a national trauma likened to 9\/11. The night hardened France\u2019s security reflexes while deepening a sense of solidarity that has endured a decade later. Many Parisians think in terms of \u201cbefore\u201d and \u201cafter,\u201d and some still check for exits when they\u2019re in crowded places. <\/p>\n \u201cTen years. The pain remains,\u201d French President Emmanuel Macron<\/a> posted as he led the day of memorials, laying wreaths at attack sites and recalling \u201cthe lives cut short, the wounded, the families and the loved ones.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \n AP AUDIO: 10 years after the Bataclan massacre, Paris is still scarred by that night of terror\n <\/p>\n France is remembering the pain of terror attacks ten years ago. AP\u2019s Lisa Dwyer reports.<\/p>\n Defiance and sorrow<\/p>\n At the city\u2019s Place de la R\u00e9publique, Parisians gathered with candles, flowers and handwritten notes as they did in 2015, taking comfort in being together. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a wound that is open. For the last 10 years, we\u2019ve been saying there was a before and an after, but what comes after?\u201d said Paris resident Patrick Abukrat. \u201cThe threat is still there.\u201d<\/p>\n Defiance went hand-in-hand with the sadness, as in 2015, when Parisians made a point of exercising their freedoms after the attacks, mustering the courage to drink again in caf\u00e9s, walk the streets with their families and carry on.<\/p>\n At a rousing commemoration on Thursday evening, the frontman of Californian rock band Eagles of Death Metal<\/a> that was playing in the Bataclan<\/a> when it was attacked led a choir in singing \u201cYou\u2019ll Never Walk Alone,\u201d a show tune now best known as a soccer fans\u2019 anthem.<\/p>\n \u201cWalk on, with hope in your heart,\u201d singer Jesse Hughes belted out.<\/p>\n Enduring pain<\/p>\n The daughter of the first person killed fought tears and described her \u201cvoid that never closes.\u201d Sophie Dias\u2019 father, Manuel, was killed when the first bomber detonated outside the Stade de France where France was playing Germany. Speaking at the stadium gate where he was killed, she said his absence \u201cweighs every morning and every evening.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cMy father loved life. He believed in freedom, in the simple joy of being together, of sharing precious moments with his family, and he instilled in us the values of the Republic. That\u2019s what hatred sought to destroy. But that\u2019s precisely what we carry with us today. Stronger than anything, despite the pain, despite the absence and this gaping hole. We remain standing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Three bombers sought but failed to get inside the stadium. Security agent Salim Toorabally turned away one of them and, after they detonated their explosive vests outside, tended a wounded man. <\/p>\n \u201cHe had like these bolts (pieces of metal) lodged in his thigh,\u201d Toorabally said in an interview with The Associated Press. \u201dThere was blood. I didn\u2019t have gloves on, and there were pieces of flesh in my hands.\u201d <\/p>\n He still speaks to the man today.<\/p>\n Tributes trace the path of carnage<\/p>\n Macron and first lady Brigitte Macron \u2014 joined by Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo \u2014 toured all the attack sites, talking to survivors and relatives of those killed, laying wreaths and standing in silence for the dead and hundreds more injured. <\/p>\n So numerous were the victims of the massacre at the Bataclan concert hall that it took four full minutes to read out all their names. The 92 victims there include two men who survived the three-hour siege but who later died by suicide. Another 39 people were killed that night by gunmen who sprayed caf\u00e9s and restaurants with bullets. <\/p>\n \u201cYou never fully heal. You just learn to live differently,\u201d said Arthur D\u00e9nouveaux, who escaped the Bataclan<\/a> and leads the victims\u2019 association Life for Paris.<\/p>\n Macron lauded police officers and others who saved lives and the French capital\u2019s resilience.<\/p>\n \u201cThe terrorists faced people far more courageous than them,\u201d he said. \u201cParis held on.\u201d <\/p>\n Church bells and the Eiffel Tower pay tribute<\/p>\n The bells of Notre Dame Cathedral and other Paris churches rang out in remembrance and the Eiffel Tower was illuminated in the national colors \u2014 blue, white and red.<\/p>\n The commemorations culminated with the inauguration of a Nov. 13 memorial garden opposite City Hall, with granite blocks that rise to evoke the attack sites.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Republic isn\u2019t dead. One for all. Vive la France,\u201d Britpop star Jarvis Cocker, frontman of the band Pulp who has lived in Paris, told the crowd. <\/p>\n City workers, emergency services personnel and others read out the names of all 132 dead, taking them more than 9 minutes.<\/p>\n The attacks reshaped France\u2019s political and emotional landscape, triggering sweeping counterterrorism powers and years of debate over security and liberties. A 2021\u20132022 trial ended with life imprisonment<\/a> for Salah Abdeslam, the lone surviving assailant, and convictions for 19 others. <\/p>\n French authorities say the terror threat has evolved significantly since 2015, with anti-terror police and prosecutors now increasingly focusing on young homegrown extremists, including children, who are radicalizing online<\/a>, often in isolation. <\/p>\n