Today, if you walk the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, you will notice a subtle change. Right at the corner near the Hotel Negresco, facing the sea, there are 86 simple, polished stainless steel plaques set into the paving stones. They are not a memorial you can easily trip over; they are ground-level, discrete. Each plaque is etched with a name, an age, and the word "Anges" (Angels).
: President François Hollande initially announced on the morning of July 14 that the state of emergency (in place since November 2015) would end on July 26.
France’s state of emergency, which allowed warrantless searches and house arrests, was extended repeatedly. Civil liberties groups decried the "normalization of exception." But polls showed the public was willing to trade liberty for security.
At 10:30 PM, the crowd counted down. The sky erupted in a 25-minute firework display. The theme that year was "Music of Love." Children sat on their fathers’ shoulders; couples embraced; the air smelled of salt, lavender, and crepes. For that brief window, France forgot the state of emergency that had been in place since the November 2015 Paris attacks.
In 2022, a special court in Paris convicted eight defendants for their roles in aiding the attacker, providing a measure of legal closure for survivors and families.
Requiescat in pace (Rest in peace). 14 juillet 2016. Never forgotten.
Today, Bastille Day 2016 is remembered through a lens of both sorrow and solidarity.
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