November 2015 Paris attacks

On the evening of 13 November 2015, a series of mass shootings and suicide bombings were occurred in Paris and Saint-Denis, France. Beginning 21:16, three mass explosions and six shootings were occurred. The deadliest attack was at the Bataclan theatre where attackers took hostages and engaged in a standoff with police until it was ended at 00:58 CET 14 November 2015. Francois Hollande took the state of emergency till 14 November 2015.

Prior to the attack, France has been on the high alert since the 2015 Charlie Hebdo shootings that killed seventeen people.

It has been confirmed that ISIS claimed responsibility for the terror attacks on the 14 November 2015.

Background
France had been on high alert for terrorist threats since the Charlie Hebdo shooting in early January 2015 and other related incidents during the January 2015 Île-de-France attacks. France had also increased security in anticipation of the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference scheduled to be held in Paris from 30 November to 11 December 2015, and had restored border checks the week before the attacks.

The Charlie Hebdo shooting in January 2015 had taken place in the 11th arrondissement of the city, where the Bataclan theatre is situated.

Attacks
Seven individual attacks took place comprising six shootings and three explosions. The explosions occurred near the Stade de France, while shootings were reported around Rue Alibert, Rue de la Fontaine-au-Roi, Rue de Charonne, the Bataclan theatre in Boulevard Voltaire, Avenue de la République, and Boulevard Beaumarchais.

Rue Bichat, Rue Alibert
The first attacks occurred on the Rue Bichat and Rue Alibert, near the Canal Saint-Martin in the 10th arrondissement. Attackers shot at people outside Le Carillon, a café-bar, at approximately 21:20 CET. They then crossed Rue Bichat and attacked Le Petit Cambodge (Little Cambodia), a restaurant, leaving between four and eleven people dead. According to French police, 11 people were killed at the restaurant. The assailants reportedly fled in one or two vehicles after the shootings. One of the vehicles was known to have had a Belgian licence plate. Doctors from nearby Hôpital Saint-Louis were in Le Carillon when the attacks occurred and supplied emergency assistance to the wounded after the attack.

Rue de la Fontaine-au-Roi
Shots were fired at the terrace of La Casa Nostra, an Italian restaurant, on rue de la Fontaine-au-Roi, south of rue Bichat, by a man wielding a machine gun. The Paris prosecutor reported that five people were killed and eight were injured. An eyewitness reported people were killed by a gunman on a scooter firing "bursts of three or four shots."

Stade de France explosions
Three explosions occurred near the Stade de France in the suburb of Saint-Denis, and resulted in at least five deaths. The explosions went off at 21:17, 21:30, and 21:53. At least 10 people were injured or killed in an explosion at a bar near the stadium at approximately 21:30 CET, about twenty minutes after the kick-off in an international friendly football match between France and Germany, which French president François Hollande was attending. He was safely evacuated from the scene at halftime while the German Foreign Minister stayed, and Hollande met with the French interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve to coordinate a response to the emergency. Two of the explosions were heard on the live televised broadcast of the match, but players and the audience were kept unaware of the danger until the game was over. Following the game, fans were brought onto the pitch to await evacuation as police monitored all exits from the venue. Security sources confirmed that all three of the explosions were suicide bombings.

Rue de Charonne
Two attackers fired for several minutes at the terrace of La Belle Équipe, a restaurant on the rue de Charonne in the 11th arrondissement before returning to their car and driving away at approximately 21:50 CET. Police confirmed that 18 people were killed by gunmen who opened fire on the restaurant's outdoor terraces.

Bataclan theatre massacre
A mass shooting and the taking of hostages occurred at the Bataclan theatre on Boulevard Voltaire in the 11th arrondissement where the US rock band Eagles of Death Metal were playing to an audience of around 1,500. About an hour into the concert, four black-clad men with AK-47 assault rifles entered the hall. Witnesses heard shouts of "Allahu akbar" just before the gunmen calmly and methodically opened fire into the crowd. A witness said that he saw armed men enter the Bataclan, and two or three men not wearing masks fired indiscriminately on the crowd. The attack lasted about 20 minutes, with witnesses reporting that the attackers also threw grenades into the crowd. A radio reporter, Julien Pearce, who had attended the concert, described the attackers as calm and determined, telling CNN they had reloaded three or four times.

At around 22:00, the men started rounding up hostages, as police massed outside the concert hall. Between 60 and 100 hostages were taken. The band's members escaped without injury. A witness who escaped the attack told a journalist there were five or six attackers and that they mentioned Syria. One witness in the Bataclan stated that a gunman yelled, "This is because of all the harm done by Hollande to Muslims all over the world." There were further attacks reported on police and first responders who arrived at the scene after initial reports of shooting inside the theatre. One of the attackers at the Bataclan had explosives, according to a police officer at the scene.

At about 00:15 CET, the police commenced an assault on the theatre after reports that the attackers had started killing the hostages. The siege ended at 00:58 CET. Initial police reports indicated that an estimated 100 people were killed at the theatre; however, this was later lowered to 87. Four attackers were killed, three of whom died by detonating their suicide vests. The fourth was hit by police gunfire, and his vest blew up when he fell. The entire neighborhood around the area was closed off after the attacks.

Boulevard Voltaire
Another attacker detonated his suicide vest on the Boulevard Voltaire near the Bataclan theatre.

Les Halles
Another attack occurred at the Les Halles shopping mall, however no fatalities were reported.

Eiffel Tower
An attack was reported near the Eiffel Tower, with unconfirmed casualties.

Perpetrators
President François Hollande declared on 14 November that the attacks were organised from abroad "by the Islamic State with internal help."

Paris Public Prosecutor François Molins confirmed that eight known attackers were killed, though authorities continued to search for the restaurant shooters.
 * Four attacked the Bataclan theatre wearing black clothing and using AK-47 assault rifles. Three killed themselves with their suicide vests during the police raid on the theatre. The fourth was killed by police gunfire just before his vest detonated.
 * Three suicide bombers detonated their vests near the Stade de France. A Syrian passport has been found on one of the suicide bombers according to the French Police.
 * The eighth attacker detonated his vest on the Boulevard Voltaire near the Bataclan theatre.

Analysis of tactics and responsibility
Michael Leiter, former director of the United States National Counterterrorism Center, said that the attacks demonstrated "a level of sophistication we really haven't seen in an urban area since 2008 in the attack in Mumbai, India," and that "this will be a game changer for how the West looks at this threat."

The Islamic State officially claimed responsibility for the attacks on the morning of 14 November, praising their "eight brothers" on the death of "at least 200 'crusaders' ", and claiming that "this was only the beginning of the storm".

Casualties
At least 128 people were killed and 200 people injured during the attacks, at least 99 being reported as in critical condition. Sweden's Foreign Ministry reported that at least one Swedish national was killed and another injured. According to Didier Reynders, the Belgian foreign affairs Minister, two of the deceased were Belgians. Australia's Foreign Minister Julie Bishop advised the media that one Australian was confirmed injured.

Official response
President François Hollande issued a statement asking the French people to remain strong in the face of such incidents. Hollande also visited the Bataclan theatre and vowed to "mercilessly" fight against terrorism. Hollande also chaired an emergency meeting of the French Cabinet that night, and organized his national security council to meet the next morning. The authorities urged the residents of Paris to stay indoors for their own safety. Hollande also cancelled his trip to the 2015 G-20 Antalya summit because of the attacks, instead sending Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and Finance Minister Michel Sapin as his representatives.

On 14 November, President Hollande announced three national days of mourning.

Security response
In response to the attacks, France was put under a nationwide state of emergency for the first time since 1961, borders were temporarily closed, and 1,500 soldiers were called in to help the police maintain order in Paris. The plan blanc (Île de France) and plan rouge (global), two French contingency plans for times of emergency, were immediately activated. Paris declared its first curfew in 70 years.

Flights to and from Charles de Gaulle Airport and Orly Airport were mostly unaffected. American Airlines delayed flights to Paris until further notice. Many Paris Métro stations in the 10th and 11th arrondissements were shut down because of the attacks. Uber also suspended car hails in Paris after the attacks.

All public schools and universities in Paris were set to remain closed the next day, Saturday 14 November. Sports events in Paris for the weekend of 14–15 November were postponed/cancelled. Disneyland Paris closed its parks for the first time, in solidarity with those who died in the attacks; it had operated every day since opening in 1992.

Belgium tightened security along its border with France and increased security checks for people arriving from France.

Several cities in the United States took security precautions, particularly at sites where large crowds were expected, sports events, concerts, the French embassy, and other French government sites. Singapore also raised its national security alert level, stepping up security precautions as well as border checks across the city-state.

Poland offered condolences, while declaring that in the wake of the attacks it sees no possibility of enacting the recent EU refugee relocation scheme.

The Eiffel Tower, a Paris landmark visited by 20,000 people a day, was closed until further notice.

Social media and popular reactions
In the hours after the attack, some Parisians used social media, in particular the Twitter hashtag #PorteOuverte (French for "#OpenDoor"), to offer overnight shelter to strangers stranded by the attacks. The hashtag trended worldwide. Other hashtags, #PeaceForParis and #PrayForParis, also trended worldwide, along with a "Peace" icon by Jean Jullien that featured an Eiffel Tower sketch.

French foreign exchange students gathered in Union Square in New York City where they lit candles and sang La Marseillaise.



Following the attacks, multiple landmark structures around the world were lit in the colours of the French flag, including the spire of One World Trade Center in New York City, the CN Tower in Toronto, the Sydney Opera House in Sydney, the Oriental Pearl Tower in Shanghai, and the Wembley Stadium arch in London.

French domestic politics
Both Hollande's governing Socialist Party and Marine Le Pen's National Front suspended their election campaigns for the upcoming French regional elections. Former president Nicolas Sarkozy, the leader of the Republican party, the main centre-right opposition party, supported the national state of emergency and increased border security measures.

International reactions
Multiple heads of state, heads of government, the Holy See, and the United Nations offered messages of condolence and solidarity in the wake of the attacks.