Paris terror attacks: One year onThe new normal: one year since terror attacks, Paris is a city afraid and divided
It has been one year since the attacks on 13 November 2015 chilled all Parisians – Muslim, Christian, Jewish, and secular alike – to the core. In coordinated attacks on a football match and a music concert, 130 innocent civilians lost their lives, and hundreds more were injured. In Paris, a global hub for business, arts, diplomacy and culture, life is not the same as before. More than 6,500 soldiers are based in the Paris metropolitan area to help the local police, and Parisians have had to adjust to the sight of military uniforms patrolling subway stations, museums, major streets, and religious sites. The atmosphere of the city has grown tense, and residents have become jumpy.
It has been one year since the attacks on 13 November 2015 chilled all Parisians – Muslim, Christian, Jewish, and secular alike – to the core. In coordinated attacks on a football match and a music concert, 130 innocent civilians lost their lives, and hundreds more were injured. The immediate impacts were obvious: police began a manhunt for suspects which would lead all the way to Brussels, and French President François Hollande imposed a nation-wide state of emergency which remains in place to this day.
Further atrocities have occurred across France, from Rouen in the north to Nice in the south. But Paris has been the symbolic and geographical center of such attacks – and they have transformed the city in ways which are still coming to light.
Paris is a global hub for business, arts, diplomacy and culture, and the wider region is home to more than 12 million people. As with other large cities that have experienced terror attacks, such as London and New York, life simply had to go on. But it is not the same as before. Parisians have had to settle into a bizarre “new normal,” where daily routines are interrupted by unfamiliar sights, sounds, and inconveniences.
Perhaps the most obvious change has been the introduction of the huge security program, Operation Sentinelle, a major military deployment in civilian areas to complement France’s Plan Vigipirate terror alert system. As a result of these measures, Paris has seen the largest deployment of military personnel since the second world war.
Of the 10,000 soldiers deployed nationally, more than 6,500 are based in the Paris metropolitan area. Parisians have had to adjust to the sight of military uniforms patrolling subway stations, museums, major streets, and religious sites. While these troops were deployed to support police and reassure civilians, they have also served as a constant reminder that life has not fully returned to normal.
If anything, the atmosphere of the city has grown tense, and residents have become jumpy. Parisians have expressed shock at the growing frequency of evacuations due to suspicious packages and vehicles – these were not widespread before the recent wave of attacks. This sense of unease has manifested in unexpected ways.
