Paris attacks survivors hope for justice as France’s biggest criminal trial in history begins

Published

4 years ago

September 7, 2021

admin

Survivors and relatives of those who lost their lives during the terrorists attacks in Paris in November 2015 are hoping for justice as France’s biggest criminal trial in history begins.

Members of an IS cell armed with assault weapons and explosive vests targeted a football stadium, bars and cafes and the Bataclan music venue, killing 130 people.

Olivier Laplaud and his wife were in the Bataclan that night enjoying themselves amongst a crowd of 1,500 people. But in an instant he told us things changed.

He said: “We were dancing on the balcony and shouting and laughing and singing. It was really a good mood.”

But then he says: “We heard a very loud noise that was covering the entire music. And it was really loud. I am a musician and I play the guitar and so my first thought was that the speaker has just broken.”

Mr Laplaud says it was his wife who realised the worst. He explains: “My wife, whose father used to work as a policeman, identified a weapon sound. And she grabbed me by the hand to hide. I just saw over the balcony some flames from what I identified as guns and the people in the area in front of the stage had just tried to escape and some were already shot.”

The couple managed to crawl to a dressing room where they hid along with dozens of others listening to what Mr Laplaud calls “the massacre” outside.

The wait for help was long – it was more than two hours before the police entered. But the sound the couple heard as they did so terrified them more than ever.

Mr Laplaud says: “The first policemen entered the Bataclan and shot the first terrorist who was on the stage and his belt exploded. And the blast was very, very loud, it made all our room shake. And I was just thinking they not only have weapons but they have grenades or whatever and the venue could explode, could burn, and we are trapped in that case.”

Mr Laplaud says the start of the trial is an important moment for survivors and the victims’ families. But it will also stir strong and painful memories.

The worst for him are those after the police came to rescue them and he had to walk through the carnage of the Bataclan.

He says: “Still now I have the images of the corpses next to my feet. The policemen told us to close our eyes and to just follow the voices of the other policemen but as I was hitting something on the floor or slipping on something, I just had to look at what I was doing and I saw bodies and people shot and heard people moaning in the pits. And still today I see them and I hear them.”

Mr Laplaud will be amongst so many who will have to re-live what they experienced or listen to what happened to their loved ones, on 13 November 2015. Twenty people will go on trial for the attacks which sent France into a state of emergency.

Six of the accused will be tried in absentia, with five believed to have likely died in Syria.

Victims and families are hoping for justice but the shock and pain at what happened on that Friday night six years ago was compounded in the days and weeks that followed by the revelation that most of those believed to have been involved in the attacks had either French or Belgian nationality.

With this trial, France is confronting home-grown terrorism.

Central to the hearing will be French citizen Salah Abdeslam who prosecutors say is the sole survivor of the IS terrorists who killed and maimed on a horrendous scale in Paris.

He allegedly ditched his explosive vest and it would be five months before he was arrested in Brussels.

His childhood friend Mohamed Abrini – who is believed to have driven Abdeslam away from Paris – was later caught on camera during the attacks on Brussels airport and subways.

Another friend, Abdelhamid Abaaoud – said to be the mastermind of the cell – was killed in a raid on an apartment block in the St Denis area of Paris five days after the attacks.

Marc Hecker who is a terrorism expert and director of research at the French Institute for International Relations, tells us: “Actually, homegrown terrorism has become the norm over the past 20 years. And that’s not actually the main surprise here.

“The main characteristics of this trial are obviously the scale of the attack but also the fact that these young people, being born and raised in France, travelled to Syria and then got a real, almost professional paramilitary training and then were able to come back to Europe and perpetrate those very deadly attacks.”

He says France has to examine the reasons why young men become radicalised. It has to be addressed because the numbers are growing.

He said: “We have a database in France of radicalised individuals that was created in 2015. And actually it started growing and growing. And now there are approximately 23,000 individuals in this database.

“And amongst these 23,000, you have 8,000 individuals who are actively surveilled and monitored by the intelligence agency. That’s a lot. You cannot have a policeman behind each of these individuals.”

The trial will be held in a specially created high-security courtroom inside the former Palace of Justice in Paris. Testimony from 1,800 victims and families will be heard during what is expected to be a nine-month case.

Salah Abdeslam is the only defendant facing murder charges. Most are accused of facilitating terrorism, providing money, transport, weapons and explosives.

During previous court appearances Abdeslam has refused to speak or co-operate with prosecutors. Few have high expectations he will behave differently this time.

And that, Olivier Laplaud says, will be difficult for victims and the loved ones of those who died.

“Silence is a provocation” he says, adding there are many things he would like to know including why Abdeslam took his explosive belt off.

“But I don’t expect much from him,” he adds.

World

Gaza food situation ‘worst it’s ever been’, charity says – as tank attack reportedly kills 12 at camp

Published

10 hours ago

July 22, 2025

admin

Gaza food situation 'worst it's ever been', charity says - as tank attack reportedly kills 12 at camp

An aid worker in Gaza has told Sky News the food situation in the enclave is “absolutely desperate” and “the worst it’s ever been”.

Her comments to chief presenter Mark Austin come amid fresh outcry over aid restrictions, with the UK joining 24 other countries to urge an immediate end to the war.

It also comes as at least 12 more Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded when tanks shelled a tent encampment in western Gaza City, according to health authorities.

Middle East latest: Key points from UK statement on Gaza

Medics, speaking early on Tuesday, said two shells were fired at tents housing displaced people from tanks positioned north of the Shati camp.

Israel hasn’t yet commented on the reports.

Rachael Cummings, humanitarian director for Save The Children, spoke to Sky News from Deir al Balah, a city where tens of thousands of people have sought refuge during repeated waves of mass displacement.

She said: “One of my colleagues said to me yesterday, ‘We are all walking together towards death’. And this is the situation now for people in Gaza.

“There is no food for their children, it’s absolutely desperate here.”

“The markets are empty,” she said. “People may even have cash in their pockets yet they cannot buy bread [or] vegetables.

“My team have said to me, ‘There’s nothing in my house to feed my children, my children are crying all day, every day.”

Israel launched a ground assault on southern and eastern Deir al Balah for the first time on Monday after having issued an evacuation order.

Local medics said at least three people were killed when houses and mosques were hit by tank shelling.

Sources told Reuters news agency that Israel believes some of the hostages kidnapped by Hamas in October 2023 could be in the area.

Ms Cummings’s remarks came as the UK and 24 other nations issued a joint statement calling for a ceasefire.

The statement criticised aid distribution in Gaza, which is being managed by a US and Israel-backed organisation, Gaza Health Foundation (GHF).

Hundreds of people have reportedly been killed while trying to get food in recent weeks, both from GHF and UN convoys.

“The Israeli government’s aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity,” the joint statement said.

The 25 countries also called for the “immediate and unconditional release” of hostages captured by Hamas during the 7 October 2023 attacks.

Lammy promises £40m for Gaza

Foreign Secretary David Lammy has promised £40m for humanitarian assistance in Gaza.

He told MPs: “We are leading diplomatic efforts to show that there must be a viable pathway to a Palestinian state involving the Palestinian Authority, not Hamas, in the security and governance of the area.

“Hamas can have no role in the governance of Gaza, nor use it as a launchpad for terrorism.”

Addressing the foreign secretaries’ joint written statement, charity worker Liz Allcock – who works for Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) in Gaza – told Sky News: “While we welcome this, there have been statements in the past 21 months and nothing has changed.

“In fact, things have only got worse. And every time we think it can’t get worse, it does.”

“Without a reversal of the siege, the lack of supplies, the constant bombardment, the forced displacement, the killing, the militarisation of aid, we are going to collapse as a humanitarian response,” she said.

“And this would do a grave injustice to the 2.2 million people we’re trying to serve.

“An immediate and permanent ceasefire, and avenues for accountability in line with international law, is the minimum people here deserve.”

The war in Gaza started in response to Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, which killed 1,200 people and saw about 250 taken hostage.

More than 59,000 Palestinians have since been killed, with more than half being women and children, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count.

In recent weeks hundreds of Palestinians have reportedly been killed while waiting for food and aid.

The Israeli military has blamed Hamas militants for fomenting chaos and endangering civilians.

World

Trade war: Is August escalation on – or will Trump chicken out?

Published

10 hours ago

July 22, 2025

admin

Trade war: Is August escalation on - or will Trump chicken out?

Donald Trump is clearly seething over the term ‘TACO’ (Trump always chickens out) – a phrase that has characterised financial market trading over the past few months.

It suggests that for all the president’s bluster and threats during his on-off trade war to date, he rarely follows through.

When asked by a reporter about TACO in late May, as his “liberation day” escalation remained on pause, he declared it a “nasty” question and said he wanted negotiations.

Money latest: ‘Biggest July house price drop in 20 years’

Mr Trump wants a deal but to effectively bully America’s trading partners into agreeing better terms.

It’s a playbook that has defined his time in the White House and, as things stand, more than 20 nations and territories, including Japan and South Korea, face heightened tariffs of up to 40% on their exports to the US from 1 August.

Financial markets don’t really believe it. Stock markets, for example, are still hovering near or at record levels in both the US and in Europe. The FTSE 100 closed above 9,000 points for the first time on Monday evening. TACO is ingrained in those values.

But are markets in for a shock, especially when it comes to the fight with America’s single largest trading partner, the European Union? It was created, Mr Trump has previously claimed, to “screw” the United States.

It’s fair to say there was great optimism in the EU earlier this month that a deal, similar to that agreed between the US and UK, was looming to avert the worst of a threatened 30% baseline tariff from 1 August.

But the mood music in Brussels changed at the back end of last week and now EU diplomats are even briefing that a broader range of retaliation measures is being considered beyond additional tariffs on US goods.

The seriousness of this fight should not be underestimated.

EU figures show trade in goods and services between the bloc and the US account for almost a third of all global trade, at a value in 2024 alone of €1.68trn (£1.45trn).

EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic has warned that a 30% tariff would “practically prohibit” the bloc’s transatlantic trade, according to remarks via diplomats reported by the Reuters news agency.

We’re told that, even if time runs out, a truce could theoretically be agreed soon after 1 August.

Much will depend on the EU’s response.

Does it go down the route taken by the UK and not retaliate, pending the conclusion of talks?

There is growing pressure on Brussels to call Mr Trump’s bluff.

The EU has a package of tariffs on €21bn of US goods ready to go from 6 August. An additional package is yet to be finalised.

France is demanding US services are hit too, with even Germany now saying such an escalation should be considered.

The so-called “anti-coercion” instrument, as it’s known, would also potentially allow the bloc to limit US companies’ access to financial service markets in the EU.

So what happens after 1 August could be even more explosive.

But there is every reason to believe that a tit-for-tat escalation is unlikely, at least for long.

The very reason Donald Trump rowed back on his “liberation day” tariffs in April, allowing 90 days for talks, was likely the dire financial market reaction that followed news of the widespread duties.

You have a president demanding interest rate cuts (at a time when inflation is on the rise due to the impact of tariffs) in a bid to boost flagging economic growth.

Mr Trump says his trade war is all about boosting US manufacturing jobs but, at the end of the day, no powerbase of voters is going to accept a threat to the value of their investments for long.

No big US company will stand by and see its sales suffer.

TACO? It’s a solid bet.

World

Plane crashes into college campus in Bangladesh – at least 19 people dead

Published

10 hours ago

July 22, 2025

admin

Plane crashes into college campus in Bangladesh - at least 19 people dead

At least 19 people have died after a Bangladesh air force plane crashed into a college campus, the military said.

The aircraft crashed into the campus of Milestone School and College in Uttara, in the northern area of the capital Dhaka, where students were taking tests or attending regular classes.

The pilot was one of the people killed, and, according to the military, 164 were injured in the incident.

The Bangladesh military’s public relations department added that the aircraft was an F-7 BGI, and had taken off at 1.06pm local time before crashing shortly after.

Video shows fire and smoke rising from the crash site, with hundreds looking on.

The cause of the crash was not immediately clear.

Bengali-language daily newspaper Prothom Alo said that most of the injured were students with burn injuries.

Citing the duty officer at the fire service control room, Prothom Alo also reported that the plane had crashed on the roof of the college canteen.

Rafiqa Taha, a 16-year-old student at the school who was not present at the time of the crash, told the Associated Press that the school has around 2,000 students.

“I was terrified watching videos on TV,” she added. “My God! It’s my school.”