14/11/2015 Newsnight

Tonight, Newsnight is live in Paris, as we piece together what happened

in the worst terror attrocity in France's modern history.

We hear from survivors and the injured of the Bataclan

And this evening, the first details are emerging of the attackers -

As global leaders meet to discuss their strategy,

A city reeling from the events of just 24 hours ago.

The curfew has now been lifted, but it doesn't feel as if it has.

and there's a sense even from the authorities of unfinished business -

It was a night of unfolding horror here. Simultaneous shootings and

explosions rang out across Paris. Three blasts took place near the

Stade de France during a France-Germany football match,

attended by 80,000, including the French President Hollande. One

person was killed and three suicide bombers. Five minutes later 12 are

killed on the terrace of the restaurant Le Petit Cambodge.

Another five minutes another shooting. This time La Casa Nostra.

In the 11th district, 19 people killed in gunfire, which witnesses

say lasted two to three minutes. An explosion and then at the Bataclan

Concert Hall, where a heavy metal band were performing, several armed

men fired on the audience and took hostages.

In all, these attacks have left at least 129

dead and the confirmation that at least one Briton was amongst them.

Our first report tonight comes from Gabriel Gatehouse,

who's been speaking to survivors of this unimaginable attack.

They came in silence this evening. Less than 24 hours ago, outside this

cafe, five people lost their lives, gunned down as they enjoyed a Friday

night out. It was the start of what would become the deadliest attack in

peacetime France. The sound of an explosion, as

peacetime France. The sound of an their country play Germany. It was

the first of several blasts, the work of suicide bombers outside the

stadium. A man filmed as he runs from the

scene. President Francois Hollande amongst the spectators was whisked

to safety. Then the crowd streamed onto the pitch in panic and

confusion. At around the same time, in central Paris, gunmen began

opening fire on diners in cafes and restaurants clustered around a busy

night spot. The deadliest attack of the night happened soon after, at

the nearby Bataclan theatre. This disturbing footage shows concert

goers fleeing out of a back exit, while four gunmen are shooting

people inside. In their terror, some climbs out of windows, clinging

desperately to the side of the building. Bodies lie in the street

below. "What's going on? The man with the camera shouts? No-one

answers, too busy dragging away the wounded. Outside, heavily armed

police now had a hostage situation on their hands. Within the hour

security forces stormed the theatre, three of the attackers detonated

suicide vests, a fourth was shot dead by police. Some of the hostages

were led out to safety, but for more than 80, the rescue effort had come

too late. President Hollande called the attacks an act of war.

TRANSLATION: We are going to fight. Our fight will be merciless. These

terrorists that are capable of such atrocities, they need to know they

will be confronted by a France that is determined, united and acting as

one. Outside the Bataclan theatre today, they continue to bring out

the bodies well into the afternoon. Next to the police cordon, there was

evidence of the desperate effort of medics to save lives. People are

coming, individuals here to lay flowers outside the street

coming, individuals here to lay leads to the theatre. On the

pavement, you can still see fresh blood. The police are telling me

that there are still bodies inside there. They're still bringing them

out. The emotions here are still incred play raw. -- incredibly raw.

Police are trying to establish the identities of yesterday's attackers.

There have been arrests in Belgium. British official sources have told

the BBC they believe a Syrian cell was behind the attack. People here

are stilling reeling from the Charlie Hebdo shootings which

happened just around the corner in January.

Meanwhile, Parisians are going from hospital to hospital, looking for

missing relatives. Nicolau and his girlfriend went to the concert

together. She was shot in the abdomen. She's safe and recovering.

He's haunted by what he saw. The word Bataclan theatre will be

written into one of the darkest chatters of modern French history.

The building stands on the boulevard Voltaire, fitting after the writing

whose work enshrines the French ideals. It was those values which

came under attack last night. That set out a bit of what we have been

seeing here today. Pierre Haski is founder

of the website Rue 89 and former deputy editor of Liberation,

and Igor Mlad-Enovitch was caught up If I can come to you, you basically

found yourself between two of the shootings, just tell us what

happened. I was having dinner nearby in a restaurant. As I came out, I

saw people fleeing. It soon appeared that there had been a mass shooting

in the Bataclan. I tried to go one way. A man told me that two people

were lying on the ground at the end of the street. I went the other

direction and police had blocked the street. So I was basically trapped

for a moment, before breaking away. What was your first impression? A

lot of people have described hearing shots they thought were fireworks.

You don't expect something on a Friday night in Paris in a

restraunt, right? No, that was very unexpected and scary. This is a very

lively neighbourhood, plenty of youths. We never expected something

like this to happen like this. There was initially panic. When we learned

what happened, we couldn't believe it. We were caught in the middle of

it. Initially there was a moment of panic. Then we just tried to reason

our way through. What was your inclination? Did you try and stay

and help? Or did you want to get as far away as you could? There's no

right answer here, I'm just interested to hear your thoughts?

Ideally I would have stayed and helped, but when you're out on a

Friday night and four different locations where people are shooting,

you can't do much, which is very frustrating. It frustrates me right

now. I just obviously thought of myself at first. I didn't know where

to go. There were shootings everywhere. Now I'm feeling

frustrated for the innocent people who lost their lives. Thanks for

your thoughts. I describe this as a city still reeling. There is a

your thoughts. I describe this as a of shock and also, I don't know if

you feel this, one person described to me as almost a sense of

unfinished business. First of all we still don't know whether there are

any guys around who have escaped. We don't know yet who the attackers

were. We have the beginning of information from the authorities on

who they are. We still don't have the full list of victims. So people

are still coming to reckon with the events themselves. I think it's too

early. There's emotion. There's grief. There's lack of information

because things are coming. We just learned this evening, for example,

that one of our colleagues, works for a culture magazine, died. He was

covering the concert. He died during the concert. We only heard about it

in the evening. People are still getting those bits of information.

What is getting those bits of information.

having on this city? I think getting those bits of information.

are, for the moment, in the time of emotion. Then will come the

questions - what happened? Could it have been avoided? Are there any

political responsibility, obviously this will be asked? And what is

going to change in our lives? Because if you go out and have

dinner, as you were describing, or go to a concert and you end up dead,

what does that go to a concert and you end up dead,

a city like Paris? I think people still have to reckon with the

consequences of what happened. Do you feel that Parisians tonight are

asking why us, why me, why here? Certainly so, yeah. Because France

has never really been at the forefront of foreign policy efforts

in the Middle East. There's never really been particularly insistent

against the Islamic State. So really been particularly insistent

think it was just an easy target. It was a coward act targeting easy,

innocent people in public places. Of course they're wondering why them.

The second time in one year. After the Charlie Hebdo attacks, we saw

many demonstrations, vigils, groups gathering. It's been noticeable that

people feel less able, less inclined to gather in a big crowd tonight.

people feel less able, less inclined And the state of emergency makes it

impossible. No-one can go to the Place de La Republique. That is

where everything happened after Charlie Hebdo. It's small because

the police are calling on people not to gather or have groups.

the police are calling on people not don't know if it's still dangerous

and the second thing is that I think people are wondering

and the second thing is that I think national unity will be surviving

these repeated attacks on our soil. Very interesting to speak to you

both. Thank you for joining us tonight.

As you heard, as well as those killed and injured,

and friends, as they desperately search for clues and contact.

It's emerging tonight that one of the perpetrators was a 29-year-old

French national - arrested eight times but never imprisoned.

Paris prosecutors say three separate terrorist teams were involved.

A Syrian and an Egyptian passport, belonging to suicide bombers,

were found, and one in the group is believed to be a woman.

Armed police patrol the quiet centre of Paris. The attacks in which 129

people lost their lives have been claimed by the so-called Islamic

State. It appears there were just seven terrorists, but what do we

know about them? One man, aged 29, was born in Paris and has previously

been involved in petty criminality. Intelligence services reported he

was radicalised. He wasn't known to be part of a terrorist network.

Another was born in 1990. He wasn't known previously to police and had a

Syrian passport. A greeck minister said the holder of this passport

entered the EU through Greece in October. Belgian media report that

three of the terrorists are from Brussels. Prosecutors in France

didn't confirm this, but a black car used in the attack was rented in

Belgium. Premises are being searched there tonight and three men have

been arrested. Around is 1,500 French citizens are fighting in

Syria, more than any other Western country. A similar number are being

monitored in France by the Security Services for alleged extremist

links. France has one of Europe's largest Muslim populations. Despite

previous tensions over issues like the banning of the veil, today

Muslims reacted with horror to the attacks.

TRANSLATION: Don't speak about Islam. It's got nothing to do with

this. We are against what happened. This is not Islam. I think we can do

the difference between a Muslim and a terrorist.

TRANSLATION: This has been claimed by ISIS. We need to wait for the

results of the investigation to find out what is really the root of this.

Paris is in mourning. Its citizens, Muslim and non-Muslim, are waiting

to find out - did the attackers form their plans here in France? Or was

it conceived abroad in ISIS strong holds? People have been coming here

to lay flowers all day, the scene of one of the first shootings. Gunmen

attacked this bar before crossing the road and opening fire on this

Cambodian restaurant, killing at least 12 people. This terrorist

tactics of moo raweding gunmen moving through a city has been a

fear of European cities since Mumbai attacks. As with previous attacks,

it appears the killers were on the radar of security agencies. They

know they are dangerous. The problem is the degree of danger. In

democracies we cannot put people in jail just because you suspect them

of being dangerous. So the laws will be more repressive in the future,

not only in France, but all over Europe. One possible opportunity to

stop the attackers could have come last week, when a man en route to

Paris was arrested in possession of weapons and explosives in Bavaria.

It's not clear he was linked to thees attackers. Police tonight are

racing to find any more accomplices. What you heard there raises many

questions. To discuss the security implications

of this is the counter-terrorism Thank you for joining us. Talk to us

first about this idea of the one French national. A young man, 29

years old, who is clearly part of a homegrown terror trat strategy, if

we can call that? We know there is homegrown terrorism in France. We

know there is homegrown terrorism in England am homegrown terrorism in

Germany. The big question is - why can't we reach these people any

more? Why don't they feel they can benefit from these countries and

achieve another meaning in life than blowing themself up with the hidden

message of paradise. We should take the global connotations of this

ideology in account. We don't have a global strategy. We don't even have

a European strategy. Each country does things slightly differently. Do

you think it's worth France asking herself about certain policies or

certain implications, for example, the importance of the Republic, not

having the sort of religion as your first port of call? Or is it crazy

to assume these things make any difference? There are local factors

which play into radicalisation processes. Obviously, the idea to

say France is a secular Republic is a good idea. It means Islam won't be

excluded. If we come back to something, each attack, attacks 20

years ago, 9/11 September, 15 years ago, we focus on a similar attack,

attack jihadism as a problem which might go away. The ideology is there

for at least 30 years. It was created partly with our help, in the

war against the Soviets in Afghanistan. We don't deal with the

ideology in a co-ordinated manner. What about this idea - The roots of

radicalisation. France or Paris tonight is missing a sense at the

moment of national unity that our guest said he worried that would be

eroded by attack after attack. Do you agree with that? Yeah. I'm

afraid that with is one of my biggest fears. National unity which

was displayed after the attacks in January against Charlie Hebdo summed

up by the slogan, "we are all Charlie" it's going away. Some

people felt they were not Charlie. Not interested in terrorism. Would

not support terrorism felt left out they didn't feel a part of France

which is Charlie which would say, fine to do drawings of the Prophet

Muhammad. The huge risk at this stage is national unity will be

eroded. That is what the so-called Islamic State knows well. One of the

major purposes of this attack was using a faultline, a division in

French society to aggravate polarisation. That's the best friend

of radicalisation. The big task will be to avoid polarisation of French

society by aggressive security measures. Thank you very much

indeed. Richard Watson has been gathering

intelligence on the scale You heard what our guest about

saying not overreacting. What are the implications now for the UK? I

think the implications are quite profound actually. It's a very stark

reminder of the threat we face in the UK. The terror threat level

remains the same. The police and MI5 will be on high alert in any case.

The French situation, my sources are telling me that ten people per week,

for the last five months, have travelled out to Syria and many will

have come back. If we look at the numbers here in the UK, it's quite

instructive. These numbers are right up-to-date. They are from

counter-terrorism sources today. 60 people are assessed to have

travelled out to Syria. Some 60 people are assessed to have died

fighting in Syria. 350 people are back in the UK already. We already

have a derallying radicalisation in this programme called Channel. I

think it's almost impossible for Khan tow cope with that level of -

that number of people. I think that the real question here is - how do

you prioritise your targets? There are some... There are 2,000 people,

persons of interest, in the UK to MI5, the security service. The

question is - how... The question really is how do you keep tabs on

2,000 people? Priority, prioritisation is absolutely

essential. I talked to someone today about communications technology.

That is also very interesting. If you - I've spoken to someone who has

infiltrated the cyber caliphate. They have been communicating with

secure apps. I have some of these here. He said - one of the Isis

supporters, alleged Isis supporters - "don't act until you are ready.

Wait for the word and you'll go. " He also told me that in the UK right

now there is police action. It's very hot. Bide your time. Wait until

it's safe. This question is very, very serious. If terrorists are

going to use secure communications there is a real threat to the UK.

Mark Urban, thanks. The organized scale

of this horror has left leaders across the world wondering what

comes next and trying to work out What happened here last night will

clearly re-energise debate about our The first blow was a bomb detonating

outside the Stade de France as President Hollande watched the

France Germany international. It was fold by two more blasts. Even if

nothing else had happened, an attack by suicide bombers so close to the

French President would have signalled a major event. It couldn't

have underlined much more clearly Islamic State's intention to shift

its violence towards the far enany, so-called, and in particular leading

countries in the coalition against it. Two bodies were discovered. One

of them appearing to be that of a suicide bomber with an explosive

belt, batteries, detonator and a number of metal objects to make the

explosion more dangerous. The attackers wore suicide vests. The

Charlie Hebdo people didn't. It's similar to the attack in Beirut on

Thursday evening that killed similar to the attack in Beirut on

than 40 people and has also been associated with Islamic State. The

use of suicide vests on western streets suggests a major new

challenge for security agencies and it also suggests a bomb maker was an

essential part of this operation. This isn't the first time assault

weapons have been used on French streets. Several were seized after

the Charlie Hebdo attacks. No-one nine days ago a Balkan man, bound

for Paris, was arrested in Bavaria. His car boot was full of automatic

weapons and explosives, underlining how relatively easy it is to bring

such hardware through Europe. These weapons, especially the weapons like

cla in as can could haves are circumstance lating, the central

origin being the Balkans. We face this problem, not only terrorist

situationings, but also very much in classic conflicts. It's a big

challenge for us and I think France has been more accessible that other

European countries. GUN SHOTS. People ask - could it happen here?

If not in London, maybe Rome or Berlin. In the UK, there have been

several major antiterrorist drills, practicing for the so-called Mumbai

scenario. Those involved acknowledge a grim truth though, no preparations

are perfect and that many can die in the minutes before an armed response

arrives. Mark Urban with that report. Mark, you raised that

question yourself really - do the events here make the authorities

think it's more likely to happen at home? Well, the threat level is

high, of course. There is a battery of things they can do to mitigate

that. Let's not forget, some of those standard types of practice

worked last night. The suicide bomber at the Stade de France was

discovered trying to enter and blew himself before he got in. The border

controls netted suspects. Intelligence is critical.

Intelligence failed on the weapons issue in France. In the UK, counter

terrorist people say they are confident they have a handle of this

question of illegal weapons entering this country. They only have to have

one significant slipup on that and the same pre-conditions for that

type of attack could be created in the UK. Mark, thank you very much,

indeed. Richard Barratt is the former

director of global We have him on the line now from New

York. Richard, thank you for joining us, if you can hear us? Yes, I can.

What do you think this changes in terms of our strategy or Government

strategy now towards Isis or towards terrorism? Yes. Well, I think the

security services will carry on doing tomorrow and todayle of course

what they've been doing for many months and many years up until now.

That is, having a look at all those 2,000 people that were mentioned

Earl earlier as being people of concern. To see which ones should be

of most concern. Clearly, you can't deal with those fantastic numbers. I

think the attacks in Paris also perhaps provide some useful

analysis, looking at those individuals, what their conjectory

was to arrive on the streets of Paris with delivering such murder

and mayhem. Who they met, how they met them and how that network formed

and so on. . They are associated with the Islamic State has been said

by President Hollande or whether there are more self-immobilising

cell. Whether they are return es and so on. All these things will help

the security services to decide - we should devote more resources to this

person and less to that. It's a difficult judgment to make, of

course. When you hear, for example, that unwith of these men was known

to police. He was known as a radical arrested eight times, never

imprisoned. Does that sound like the system has gone wrong? I don't think

so. An awful lot of people are known to the police for petty crime. A lot

of those people are fairly radicalised. You can think back to

the Lee Rigby murder, for example, both those people were known to the

police for petty crime and rallying radicalisation. They are not unique

by any means. It's really difficult to say - OK, in this case we will

really focus on these people. Though of course it could be an indicator

that something may be going on. I think there are two issues here.

First... Carry on. I was going to say. People will be looking for

reassurance at home saying - oh, we do things slightly differently in

London. It's a different approach. A difficult strategy. Presumably you

can't give anyone that reassurance can you? No. I don't think anyone

pretends that reassurance is real. I think the level in threat in London

is probably at "severe" just below the top level. That speaks for

itself. In Paris of course there have been more threats. There are

more threats to France than to the United Kingdom. That by no means

there are no threats to the United Kingdom. We have about 1,500 - Thank

you very much indeed. Thank you. No one expected to see attacks

on the same city twice in one year. We were here in January

after the Charlie Hebdo attacks. What's striking is how we

tried to make sense of them. Was it about press freedom,

was it about satire, The answer, in the light of what's

happened here now, is clearly, no. This is a war on all our culture

and our countries. And, it almost certainly,

won't end here in France. He's in an exotic land. In the far

reaches of northern Europe.