On July 14, 2016, after the fireworks, a white truck launched at full speed on the Promenade des Anglais, in Nice, killed 86 people in its mad dash and injured several hundred. This year, the tribute was particularly marked by the unveiling of a work in homage to the victims, but also by the trial to come.
It was the children who opened the ceremony by unveiling a bird-man posed on a wave, a four-meter-high metal sculpture that stands facing the sea at the height of the Mediterranean Palace, where six years ago a crazy truck made Nice fall into horror.
Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, a 30-year-old Tunisian living in the southern French town, drove a 19-tonne truck into the crowd for two minutes before being shot dead by police. The “Angel of the Bay”, signed by the Nice artist Jean-Marie Fondacaro, was placed at the very spot where the truck had stopped that evening. At the foot of the wave, a heart-shaped calligram brings together the names of the 86 missing persons, “angels”, a reference to the “Bay of Angels” which extends offshore.
Ornella was present that evening. She was 12 years old. She will never forget, and impossible to miss this tribute. ” This ends our days of stress, fear, apprehension of commemoration. It reminds us of important memories and we stay with people we know, with whom we share moments of sadness, but it’s sharing. It’s moving. »
Trial in September
” This story, the French carry it with you “, told the victims the French Minister of Justice, Éric Dupond-Moretti recalling how France had “ been touched in the heart by Islamist barbarism “.
Another highlight of the ceremony, the speeches of the associations of victims. Speeches in which there was also talk of the trial to come next September: “ we can’t expect everything from the trial, however I think the timing of the trial is part of the rebuilding process. We have to own it. We can’t let them take this besides taking our lives. »
The main responsible having died, the magistrates will examine the responsibilities of eight other people, members of his entourage or intermediaries involved in the trafficking of weapons which were intended for him.
After the speeches of Christian Estrosi, the mayor of the city, and Éric Dupond-Moretti, the Minister of Justice, the ceremony ended with the reading of the names of the 86 victims.