{"id":375466,"date":"2025-11-13T07:52:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T07:52:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/375466\/"},"modified":"2025-11-13T07:52:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T07:52:13","slug":"france-honors-victims-of-2015-paris-attacks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/375466\/","title":{"rendered":"France honors victims of 2015 Paris attacks"},"content":{"rendered":"

PARIS (AP) \u2014 Ten years on, survivors of the Paris attacks<\/a> struggle to cope with the trauma as France prepares to pay tribute Thursday to the victims of the assaults that left more than 130 people dead<\/a> and more than 400 injured.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 10th anniversary is here and emotions and tension are everywhere for us survivors,\u201d said 39-year-old Arthur Denouveaux, president of victims\u2019 association Life for Paris. \u201cThat kind of shields us from the world in a way, because we\u2019re so focused on the grief and on remembering those who lost their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Nov. 13, 2015, nine Islamic State group gunmen and suicide bombers struck within minutes of one another<\/a> at several locations in the deadliest violence to strike France since World War II. <\/p>\n

They targeted fans at the Stade de France stadium and cafe-goers and ending with a bloodbath in the Bataclan, killing 130 people. Two survivors who later took their own life as consequence of the physical and mental trauma also have been recognized as victims.<\/p>\n

Denouveaux was at the concert of the Californian rock band Eagles of Death Metal at the Bataclan. Since then, he has made a point of telling his story, talking to the media and writing books to keep what happened from being forgotten.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe hardest part is Nov. 14 when you have to get back to normal life somehow and the grief is still here, but the bond is a little more distant,\u201d Denouveaux told The Associated Press.<\/p>\n

Coping with post-traumatic stress<\/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

At 9:47 p.m., three gunmen burst into the Bataclan, firing indiscriminately and killing 90 people. <\/p>\n

Denouveaux escaped when he heard the first gun shots by crawling toward the nearest emergency exit door.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember crawling on top of bodies. I believe most of the people were pretending to be dead and were not dead, but still. And I remember a few faces or at least a few facial expressions of people who were necessarily dead because of the angle of the neck, because of color of the skin,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Out in the street, he helped bewildered Eagles of Death Metal\u2019s members get in a taxi. <\/p>\n

A father of three girls, aged 2, 4 and 6, Denouveaux says it took him a year and a lot of medicines to overcome the most critical phases of post-traumatic stress disorder.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut since 2017 I would say, I\u2019ve had no panic attack, I\u2019ve had nothing of that kind,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I\u2019m very cautious because I\u2019m not sure you heal from PTSD.\u201d<\/p>\n

Memorial garden opens near Paris City Hall<\/p>\n

Thursday\u2019s main ceremony is to take place at a newly created memorial garden by the Paris City Hall in the presence of French President Emmanuel Macron, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, survivors and families of victims.<\/p>\n

Macron also will lay wreaths on the sites of the attacks before the garden event. Parisians are invited to put candles, flowers and written notes on the city\u2019s Republic Plaza and the Eiffel Tower will be lit in the colors of the French flag at night. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe nation will gather to honor the memory of those who lost their lives, show its unwavering support for their loved ones, express its gratitude to all those who intervened (that night), and reaffirm its ongoing commitment to the fight against terrorism,\u201d Macron\u2019s office said in a statement.<\/p>\n

The new memorial garden, designed with the contributions of survivors and relatives of people who died in the attacks, evokes the six sites of the attacks with the names of the victims engraved on steles.<\/p>\n

Denouveaux, who was involved from the beginning, said the project aims to create \u201ca place that remembers the dead but also a place of life, a place that is beautiful, that is serene.\u201d<\/p>\n

The French soccer federation will honor the victims<\/a> Thursday as France\u2019s national team hosts Ukraine in a men\u2019s World Cup qualifier. The match will be at the Parc des Princes in Paris rather than the Stade de France in the nearby suburb of Saint-Denis with a minute\u2019s silence before kickoff.<\/p>\n

Survivors seek a new path<\/p>\n

Nov. 13, 2015, became an important milestone in France\u2019s history, traumatizing an entire nation and shaking the country\u2019s sense of security.<\/p>\n

Survivors had to find a new path in life following the attacks, Denouveaux explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you survive a terrorist attack \u2026 you become disconnected from the rest of the world,\u201d Denouveaux said. \u201cThere are three mourning phases to be done: the mourning for those who died, the mourning for the person you were \u2026 and the mourning of the image people have of you.\u201d<\/p>\n

A monthslong trial in 2021-2022 led to the conviction of the lone surviving member of the team that carried out the attacks, Salah Abdeslam, who was sentenced to life in prison<\/a> without parole. The special terrorism court also convicted 19 other men involved<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cTen years later, when I tell someone who doesn\u2019t know: \u2018Well, I was at the Bataclan,\u2019 the person\u2019s perception of me changes immediately,\u201d Denouveaux said. \u201cThere\u2019s the emotion they felt that day, but also, I think, the fear of wondering \u2018Is he OK? Can I talk to him about it? How do we do that?\u2019 And that, of course, puts you out of phase.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PARIS (AP) \u2014 Ten years on, survivors of the Paris attacks struggle to cope with the trauma as…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":375467,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[160884,180659,10762,4219,8703,156,40783,57,50,3715,180658,3677,5343,103,107],"class_list":{"0":"post-375466","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-anne-hidalgo","9":"tag-arthur-denouveaux","10":"tag-assault","11":"tag-crime","12":"tag-emmanuel-macron","13":"tag-france","14":"tag-france-government","15":"tag-general-news","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-paris","18":"tag-salah-abdeslam","19":"tag-shootings","20":"tag-terrorism","21":"tag-world","22":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115541307967951311","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=375466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375466\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/375467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=375466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=375466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=375466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}