Nice begins three days of commemoration in memory of the 86 dead and survivors of the 2016 attack

Thousands of people have begun this Sunday in Nice a solemn march in memory of the 86 dead and 486 injured in one of the worst terrorist attacks in the history of the Fifth Republic: the mass attack that occurred on July 14, 2016 on the iconic Promenade des Anglais, the main coastal avenue of the French city.

Around 10:30 p.m., Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, at the wheel of a 19-ton cargo truck, began to run over pedestrians on the promenade before opening fire on civilians and police officers, who ended up shooting him dead. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack.

The people of Nice, many of them with white roses in their hands, began the event with a long applause dedicated to the local firefighters before marching along the same promenade, following the same route as the truck. Finally, they observed a minute of silence at ‘El Ángel de la Bahía’, the monument dedicated to the victims of the attack, where wreaths of flowers were also placed.

Tomorrow, Monday, the victims and their families are invited to an interreligious ceremony at 4:30 p.m. at the Villa Massena, also on the same promenade. The following day, July 14, President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, First Lady Brigitte Macron, will preside at 6:00 p.m. at a ceremony followed by a concert by the Nice Philharmonic Orchestra at the Théâtre de Verdure.

A drone show on the Promenade des Anglais will open the last act of this series of commemorations at 10:00 p.m. Thirty-four minutes later, exactly ten years after the truck finished its journey, the city will once again turn on the 86 beams of light that illuminate the Promenade des Anglais every year on that day, in tribute to the victims.