Paris, Nov. 13, (dpa/GNA) – Paris was on Friday due to mark the fifth anniversary of the worst terrorist atrocities in its history, when 130 people were killed in gun and bomb attacks by Islamic State militants at the Bataclan theatre, cafe terraces and the Stade de France stadium.
Mayor Anne Hidalgo and Prime Minister Jean Castex were due to pay tribute to the victims at each of the six sites where they fell.
More than 260 people have been killed in confirmed or suspected terrorist attacks in France since January 2015, when 17 people were killed in attacks on sites including Charlie Hebdo magazine and a kosher supermarket.
Suspects accused of links with the January 2015 attacks are currently on trial. Judges have also ordered a trial for 20 suspects accused of links to the November 2015 attacks, including the only surviving alleged member of the gang that carried out the attacks.
Friday’s ceremonies come just weeks after two new attacks.
A schoolteacher who had used Charlie Hebdo cartoons of the prophet Mohammed in a lesson on freedom of expression was beheaded near his school in a Paris suburb on October 16. Later in the month, three people were killed in a knife attack inside a church in Nice.
President Emmanuel Macron has vowed to intensify an already planned crackdown on all forms of Islamist activism, whether violent or not, since the latest killings.
GNA