France Marks 10th Anniversary of the November 13 Paris Attacks: Remembrance, Trial and a New Memorial

France marks 10th anniversary of the November 13, 2015 attacks

France on Thursday observes a decade since the deadliest Islamist assault on its soil — a coordinated series of shootings and suicide bombings in and around Paris that left 130 people dead on the night of 13 November 2015. The Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility for the attacks.

About 90 victims were killed inside the Bataclan concert hall while the US rock band Eagles of Death Metal performed. Dozens more were shot at restaurants and cafés across Paris, and one person died near the Stade de France stadium on the city's outskirts as crowds watched France play Germany.

Leadership, justice and remembrance

President Emmanuel Macron is expected to visit all the attack sites before presiding over a remembrance ceremony at a central memorial garden in Paris. The only surviving member of the 10-person cell, 36-year-old Salah Abdeslam, was tried in 2022 and is serving a life sentence after a lengthy, 148-day trial. Nine co‑attackers either blew themselves up or were killed by police.

"We are a democracy, and democracy always wins in the end," François Hollande, who was president at the time and a trial witness, told AFP in a recent interview.

Hollande — who was in the crowd at the Stade de France when the attacks began — described the night as a "horror" and declared France to be "at war" with jihadist networks and their self‑proclaimed caliphate then active in parts of Syria and Iraq. US-backed forces dismantled the last territorial remnants of that proto-state in eastern Syria in 2019.

Restorative justice and ongoing investigations

Abdeslam remains imprisoned and, according to his lawyer Olivia Ronen, has said he would be open to speaking with victims if they wished to participate in a "restorative justice" process. Meanwhile, an ex-girlfriend of Abdeslam — from whom he separated earlier this year — has been arrested and charged in an alleged plot to carry out a jihadist attack; that investigation is ongoing.

Survivors, families and a museum

Survivors and bereaved relatives have spent the last decade rebuilding their lives while carrying lasting physical and psychological scars. Eva (who asked that her second name not be published) had her leg amputated below the knee after she was wounded when gunmen struck the café La Belle Équipe, where 21 people were killed. She has returned to Paris's café terraces but says she will "never again" sit with her back to the street.

Some relatives avoid the sites of the attacks entirely. Stephane Sarrade, whose 23‑year‑old son Hugo was killed at the Bataclan, said he has been "incapable" of going back and will skip the anniversary ceremonies. Nadia Mondeguer, who lost her 30‑year‑old daughter Lamia at La Belle Équipe, described feeling torn about the 10th anniversary and sometimes reduced to a "spectator" in official events, though she plans to attend a ceremony with other relatives.

To conserve memory and provide context, the Terrorism Memorial Museum is due to open in 2029 and will house around 500 objects linked to the attacks and their victims, most donated by grieving families. Planned exhibits include a concert ticket donated by a mother who lost her only daughter at the Bataclan, the unfinished guitar of a luthier killed in the concert, and the bullet‑scarred menu board from La Belle Équipe, still bearing the words "Happy Hour."

Legacy

The events of that autumn night have been memorialised in books, films and public ceremonies. As France pauses to remember the victims, the anniversary underscores ongoing debates about memory, justice and how best to support survivors and bereaved families while preserving democratic principles.

Reporting credits: AFP