Madness and terror
When a truck is a weapon of mass murder
THE spots where the bodies fell are now marked by makeshift memorials along the palm-fringed beachfront. Some are ringed by pebbles. Most feature candles, stems of white flowers and teddy bears. Ten children were among the 84 killed on July 14th, when a 31-year-old Tunisian citizen ploughed a 19-tonne truck into Bastille Day crowds. A football lies among the mementos left where a 13-year-old French boy, Mehdi, was killed. His aunt died a step away. “I just hope this won’t be turned against us,” says a grieving family member, whose origins are in Morocco. “We grew up in France; we come from here too.”
This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “Madness and terror”
From the July 23rd 2016 edition
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Emmanuel Macron shows off the gloriously restored Notre Dame
Five years after it was gutted by fire, the cathedral is more beautiful than ever
Ursula von der Leyen has a new doctrine for handling the hard right
The boss of the European Commission embarks on a second term
Marine Le Pen spooks the bond markets
She threatens to bring down the French government, but also faces a possible ban from politics
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Ukraine’s warriors brace for a Kremlin surge in the south
Vladimir Putin’s war machine is pushing harder and crushing Ukrainian morale
Vladimir Putin fires a new missile to amplify his nuclear threats
The attack on Ukraine is part of a new era of missile warfare