Attack in Nice BBC News Special

attack has been widely condemned across the world, with Angela Merkel

telling a meeting of European and Asian leaders that words could not

express what France felt. 84 people have been killed, many

more have been injured. The victim bowed down by a large lorry driven

into the crowds as celebrated Bastille Day in these late last

night. Children are among the dead and at least a dozen people remain

critically injured. There was panic as screaming people fled the scene.

The driver had ploughed through the crowds for more than a mile after

being shot dead. His truck was found to contain guns and a grenade.

President Hollande has called off military and police reservists and

extent of the country's state of emergency. He says horror has struck

a front again. TRANSLATION: This attack, of which the terrorist

character cannot be denied, is once again of an absolute violence. It is

clear that we need to do everything we can to fight against terrorism.

This is the scene in Nice this morning. Report says that the driver

was known to the police but not the intelligence agencies.

This is BBC News with continuing coverage of the France truck attack

in Nice. At least 84 people are known to have been killed on the

south coast of France when a truck ploughed into a crowd as they

watched Bastille Day fireworks late into the evening. The attack

happened at around 11pm local time in the Mediterranean city. 18 people

are said to be in a critical condition, among at least 50

injured. Eyewitnesses say that the truck was driven deliberately at

speed running into the crowd over a long distance, about two kilometres,

more than a mile, on the seafront avenue, the Promenade des Anglais,

leaving a trail of dead and injured, several children among them. It is

understood the truck was driven along the prom and eight is on way

from west to east, so heading into the town. Witnesses say the truck

struck several people near the Hotel Negra skill, a well-known local

landmark. The French security forces set up a security cordon around

where the area took place. President Hollande said he deplored what he

called a terrorist attack and announced an extension of the

National state of emergency the three months. We are expecting the

president to emerge shortly after this emergency meeting held at the

Kolisi Palace in Paris. From there, once he has spoken, -- at the at the

Kolisi Palace. A lorry makes his way down a promenade of the more you

watch, the more you realise this is no ordinary celebration. In an

attack like this, all you can do is run. Chaos in France once again. A

night of celebration forgotten in an instant. Surviving is all that

matters now. I got separated from aunt and uncle and I was looking

around for them. We just had no idea what was going on. Just complete

chaos. People were screaming, kids were crying, security guards were on

their walkie-talkies. We were so close, and to have all of that erupt

on such a positive evening, it was just such a paradox. Witnesses spoke

of how the vehicle swerved several times, maximising the carnage.

Afterwards, it can be seen covered in bullet holes. People initially

thought they were hearing the Bastille Day fireworks. The driver

was shot dead but the French president says it is not clear if he

had accomplices. TRANSLATION: France has been hit on the day of its

national day. 14th of July, symbol of freedom. Because human rights are

denied by fanatics. And France is therefore their target. Grenades and

guns were also found. This country was meant to be on the road to

recovery. Let's talk to our correspondence Jon Donnison, who is

in Nice for us. John, we can see the lorry used by the attacker in the

background. Just tell us first of all what is happening at the moment.

The police have set up a cordon around 200 metres from that truck,

which you can just make out. You can see the windscreen riddled with

bullet holes, evidence of the police gun battle that instituted when they

eventually got this man to stop, but not before he had ploughed along for

a round about two kilometres, well over a mile, into thick crowds of

people. A lot of people here in Nice are actually waking up to the news.

It was quiet here an hour or so ago but you have got people coming down

to take a look, and a real sense of shock. Partly just the simplicity

and the brutality of the attack. This wasn't a high-tech method, but

there is really very, very little that police could have done to stop

it once this man was in this vehicle and determined to do what he did.

Yes, that sense of shock that you talk about must be absolutely

palpable. Something like this happening in what was supposed to be

a relaxed celebratory atmosphere. Yes, Bastille Day, a national

holiday in France, and the Promenade des Anglais last night will have

been absolutely packed. This happened around 11 o'clock at night,

the fireworks over the Mediterranean had just finished. There would have

been thousands of families down here, a lot of children, and we are

sadly hearing that we think ten children are among the dead. Lots of

tourists, lots of locals. Once again, France is waking up to

terrible news. The country was already in a state of emergency

following those attacks in Paris last November. That has now been

extended, that state of emergency, for a further three months. But a

massive problem and arguably the largest single terrorist attack in

France's history. John, we are seeing reports from police sources

that the attacker has been formally identified, although that name has

not been made public yet. That's right. What we are hearing is that

it was a 31-year-old local man who held French and Tunisian

nationality. Police say that he was known to them in a criminal capacity

for minor criminal offences but not to the intelligence services here.

We have also heard from officials in Nice, that they believe he started

his journey out in the mountains and then drove into Nice in that truck,

heading along the Promenade des Anglais behind me from the direction

of the airport, and then bursting through the cordoned off areas.

Yesterday, they Promenade des Anglais had been pedestrianised.

Normally there are six lanes of traffic but yesterday the whole area

was pedestrianised, which is why there was only people on the road

and 70 people killed. We can just see the Dome of the Hotel Negresco

where so many victims suffered. It is a long stretch, I suppose it is

fair to say that France has had to come to terms with some dreadful

incidents in the last year and a half, but the manner of this is just

unprecedented. It is, and I think that's right, and I think it is the

sort of banality of it, of the method. It was just brute force that

was just shocking, different from what we saw in Paris in November

with the attacks on the Bataclan and around the city of Paris. This is

just someone who has used a vehicle as a weapon of war. It is frankly

and precedent it, at least in Europe. In the Middle East they have

had incidents like this. Then Israel one can think of where Palestinians

have driven vehicles onto the sidewalk to try and kill Israelis

but certainly not on this scale and certainly not to such devastating

effect. Worth pointing out that obviously no organisation has an

interest in declaring responsible at if what has happened, but I note

that the French media in particular have been quite quick to quote a

spokesman from so-called Islamic State from a couple of years ago,

encouraging people to target what he called the French infidels, and if

need be to use their car to do it. Yes, and there is material like that

circulating online and I think it has been for some time. Police will

be looking to see whether this individual was first of all acting

alone, or whether he was part of some sort of radicalised group. Nice

does have a large Muslim population, as does the rest of France. One

thing I would say is that last night on the Promenade des Anglais, there

would have been hundreds of Muslim families, and I am almost certain

that amongst the victims there will be Muslim victims too. Only a couple

of weeks since the results of a study, a report into the work of

France's law enforcement officials was released. That was critical,

wasn't it, of a lack of communication at times between the

various branches of law enforcement. It is difficult to say in this case

if it was an individual who was known criminally to the police but

not the security services, or whether they could have been any

more joined up thinking on this particular individual. There was

criticism in that report, of communication between the different

French agencies and also linking up with agencies in other European

countries, and around the world. We just don't know at this stage what

kind of individual this was. We do know that police say they found guns

in the truck, as well as grenades. Where he got them from, where they

were brought into the country, we just don't know at this stage. They

are all things that authorities will be trying to find out in the coming

hours and days. We are waiting to hear both from President Hollande

and possibly from the new British Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson,

responding to what has happened there. Is it fair to say, I mean,

Nice is 500 miles or so from Paris, and awful long way away from the

centre of power, perhaps from many of those real deep-seated fears as

to the extent of the terrorist threat in France, or at least has

been. I'm not sure about that. It is one of France's biggest cities,

fifth or sixth biggest city in France, a city of around 400,000

people. And we have had of course terrorist attacks carried out by

extremists in other southern French cities. One thinks of Toulouse a few

years ago. And certainly in Nice I was actually here on holiday and

have been here for the last few days or so, there is a heavy security

presence everywhere you go. At the airport you see heavily armed

soldiers, and police in the main tourist areas around the old city of

Nice. You see soldiers walking around in front of Jewish schools

and synagogues in Nice, you see heavily armed police. I am almost

certain that last night there will have been a big police presence too.

But it is very, very difficult to stop a large truck when it is being

driven at 70 or 80 kph down a wide road. The president of the European

parliament Martin Schultz calling on the French people to stand strong

and united, saying France should not surrender its values of freedom,

equality and fraternity, but as the state of emergency is extended for

another three months, it is difficult to know whether those

things are compatible. It is difficult, and it is going to be

difficult, and we saw that after the attacks in Paris last year, and then

the other attacks in Paris, the Charlie Hebdo attacks before that.

But I think those occasions France probably did show a pretty strong

sense of unity and solidarity. The problem is when police and the

security services, intelligence services, go about their business,

trying to find out who did this, to stop other attacks, it can alienate

and frustrate the large Muslim community that exists in France and

in the city of Nice. Also, they would have to make a bit of an

effort in the coming days and weeks to try and not let this become a

divisive issue in France, which if it does turn out to have been

carried out by an Islamic extremist is exactly the sort of thing they

want to happen. Just coming back to the sense of what it was like last

night, I noticed that Facebook for example but other social media have

been putting out safety check features, giving people a chance in

the area to identify themselves, or indeed others, so they know they are

unhardened. There was a complete scattering, everyone running

anywhere for safety. I guess that is one of the elements they have to

deal with today, trying to match up people, relatives, friends, who have

lost track of each other. That is right. And I think last night the

city did come together to allow people to take shelter. There was

trending on Twitter, and on Facebook, we open up your doors --

our doors to you. There are a lot of people here in Nice who are on

holiday, they are tourists. It is France's most popular tourist

destination after Paris. They will today be feeling pretty fearful, and

pretty disorientated. But at the moment, I have to say, Nice is

pretty calm. It is certainly pretty subdued, and that tremendous sense

of shock, but at the moment there doesn't seem to be any sense of

panic. We have heard one or two cases of whether have been fears of

secondary attacks, maybe police have attended things elsewhere in the

city but so far has come to nothing. As I say, relatively, the moment.

Thank you very much indeed, the very latest from the Promenade des

Anglais. A reminder of the main developments

on our breaking news this morning. At least 84 people have been killed

in Nice by a truck that ploughed into packed crowds of people

celebrating Bastille Day. President Hollande says

the terrorist nature 50 people have been injured,

at least a dozen of them critically, as France extends its state of

emergency by another three months. The truck was only stopped

when the driver was shot dead. Witnesses said he'd produced a gun

and began firing. He's said to have been a French

national of Tunisian origin Monsieur Hollande is holding

an emergency security meeting The attack has been

condemned around the world. President Obama described

it as "horrific". Chancellor Merkel of Germany has

spoken of shock and disbelief. TRANSLATION: This terrible attack

happened on a national holiday, a holiday which is a day of pride, but

which has now become a day of mourning.

a Downing Street spokesman said the Prime Minister was

The Foreign Office says officials are standing by to help any

We are joined by Jim Harris on the line, from Leamington spa. He was in

Nice at the time. Were also joined by American lawyer Eric draft

health. -- Dratell. What did you experience?

A group of people started running from the north end of the square. We

didn't want to get trampled, so we turned and tried to run with them. A

guy fell down in front of me and I stopped to help him up. I lost track

of my friends and had to find them again. Did you find them? Yes, they

are quite safe, with all the police circulating around us. That is one

good thing. Eric, I cannot really imagine the feelings when this must

be going on. There were gunshots which people thought might have been

fireworks, a tidal wave of people running away. Yes, we were down on

the beach at a restaurant. The Promenade des Anglais is about three

metres or so above the beach, and we heard the gunshots. I don't know how

people could have confused it for fireworks, because the fireworks

show had ended minutes before. We heard a pop, pop, pop sound. My wife

recognised the sound as gunfire, and we started running for shelter.

People were throwing themselves off of the promenade and onto the beach

from the corrugated metal roof of the restaurant. Did you see the

truck at all? No, we were on beach level and the road is elevated.

Again, the level of fear, I can't imagine. Where did you go from the

beach from your hiding spot? What did you do? We went into an area in

the restaurant that had toilets and a serving area, and people were

sheltering in the toilet stalls. There were around ten people in the

stall we were in. After a time, we started coming out into an enclosed

area. After about an hour or so, we were ordered back into shelters

far-away from the beach. I don't know why, they never told us. And

then, about two hours after that, at around 12:30am, we were

escorted to the Hotel NEgresco. What are you going to do now? Well, I

live in London, and I have a flight scheduled for tomorrow. Nothing will

happen today. There are police in front of the hotel now, and it looks

like there are military ships off the coast patrolling. Hopefully, we

will get back to London tomorrow. And Jim, I imagine it is similar for

you - you want to get out quickly? We're not really sure at the moment.

We are still waiting to understand what is going on. Not all of us have

woken up yet this morning, so we haven't planned what we are going to

do. You haven't been to the promenade this morning? Not yet.

Will you want to go back and see the state of affairs there? I'm not sure

at the moment. I almost feel I don't want to be here at that point. I can

well imagine that. If I can, can I bring you back to what the

atmosphere was like prior to this happening? It was Bastille Day,

obviously a lovely, balmy evening, lots of people having a good time.

We had been to the beach before going to the square. It was a lovely

evening, a fantastic fireworks display and everything, and the next

thing we knew, people running. Jim, thanks very much indeed for that. I

just wonder, Eric, I appreciate you live in London, but for folks back

home in the United States, they will be anxious to know of your

whereabouts and your safety, I guess. Yes, we have checked in. I

was on Twitter and my wife was on Facebook last night. We have spoken

to our friends and family. I think everybody who needs to know about us

knows. My wife had a minor injury, but she is fine. Compared to what

other people had, it was really nothing. Does an incident like this,

you are so close to it, how does that affect you and your thinking

about what is going on at the moment in the world? It is a sad reflection

on what is happening. I don't have an answer for it. I don't think we

can give in and live in fear. Eric, thank you very much indeed. That is

an American lawyer living in London. Also to you, Jim Harris. Thank you

very much for giving us your feelings at what is an extremely

difficult time for both of you. We're just seeing more details on

the identity of this 31-year-old attacker, a Franco Tunisian man.

We're told that his identity papers were found in the truck he used. We

are also hearing from the Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson, that one

British national has been injured in that attack in Nice. Boris Johnson

has just been speaking in the last few moments. Let's listen to what he

had disabled. Obviously, our thoughts are very much with the

people of France and Nice. An absolutely appalling incident. There

will be ministerial meetings later today to discuss the implications

for this country. I don't, at this time, know the implications for the

UK. Clearly, this represents a continuing threat. If this is a

terrorist threat, as it appeared to be, it is a continuing threat in

Europe and we must meet it together. Other any Britons involved? The only

information I have is, there is one British national who is injured. And

you will be speaking to counterparts in France today? Yes. Boris Johnson,

the new Foreign Secretary, speaking a few moments ago, reflecting what a

number of international politicians have had a say in response to the

attack. On the reference to one British person known to be caught up

in it, the clue is in the name of the place - the Promenade des

Anglais, which has associations with Britain going back many generations,

so it would be no surprise at British people were involved.

On the line is Andrew Pag, a journalist who was in Nice

Thank you for taking the time to talk to us. Please tell us what you

saw and heard last night. I got to the promenade about 30 or 40 minutes

after the attack. At that point, there was already a police barrier

around the area. I spoke to a couple of witnesses. The first person had

blood on their legs and I assumed they had been injured, but he

explained that he had picked up the blood while helping other people. He

describes pretty traumatic first aid, that he had had to take

shoelaces of one person and use them at a tourniquet to prevent bleeding.

-- use them as a tourniquet. A scene of destruction in the wake of this

truck. I was on Promenade des Anglais again this morning, and it

was quite a strange scene. The small crowd that has been coming and going

and growing and drinking, they are really in shock this morning. Ahead

of me, I can see the truck about 100 metres away from the cordon. The

worst street cleaners sweeping the street clean earlier. On the beach,

further back behind where I am, there are people sunbathing and

swimming in the water is a fair way back there. There are also patrol

boats cruising up and down the seafront, so a strange mix of some

people continuing their holiday, but also the aftermath of this terrible

incident. Yes, the atmosphere there must be incredibly strange this

morning. Yes, and again, I spoke to another witness last night who was

able to clarify a little bit more about what had happened. He told me

a story that sounded like an incredibly lucky one. The Promenade

des Anglais stretches from where I am probably about three or four

miles around the car was lying. It is a beautiful drive, with the sea

on your right hand side. He was just stopped a few yards from where the

truck came to a stop. Having travelled probably about 1.5 miles

through a crowded area of people, hitting people as it went, this guy

was just a few feet away from being hit himself, and he saw the driver

when it came to a stop. In his shop, this man thought it had been an

accident, maybe the brakes had failed or something like that, and

he saw the driver reach into his pocket for something that he assumed

was his phone, to phone his insurance company or something, and

then he realised the driver was pulling out a handgun. He managed to

get out of the way, and then he filmed with his phone the exchange

of gunfire that place between three or four armed officers and the

driver. Andrew, I am sorry, we had to interrupt you because we are

going to go live to Paris now. To the AV is a palace, where a

statement is being made. In these a... TRANSLATION: We're thinking

about the city Nice, where we are going to visit shortly. Terrorism,

we have said for a long time, is a threat that weighs heavily on France

and which will carry on weighing on France. On many occasions, I said,

unfortunately, that we would have had such incidents and there would

be others. We are facing a war that terrorism has started against us.

The objective of the terrorists is to instil fear and panic. France and

the president of the Republic, the president has reminded us, is a big

country, a big democracy that will not allow itself to be destabilised.

The emergency that we have talked about is to welcome the families and

looked after the bodies and loved ones after identification. The

services of the state are being deployed to help the families and to

accompany them during this particularly difficult time.

For an immediate reaction to this type, the following measures have

been decided: A crisis has been triggered, local emergency services

have been placed on high alert. The Paris prosecutor's office is now in

charge of the attack. And instructions are given by the public

prosecutor. The interministerial to the victim

soul has been triggered. The president told our compatriot that

Sentinel operation will be maintained, and to recall the

reserves along the condom level. Extra services -- along the gender,

race level. The gendarmerie level. The delays

and the mentalities of these operations are being put in place in

the general direction. A draft law to prolong this state of emergency

for an extra three months will be presented to the council of

ministers next Tuesday, so that Parliament can study it and examine

this text, next Wednesday and Thursday.

The president of the Republic has called for national mourning for the

16th, 17th and 18th of July from, out of respect for the victims.

Flags will fly at half-mast along the Republic offices. -- official

offices in the Republic. The meeting of defence and security, we would

like to tell the French people that we will never give in. France will

not give in to the terrorist threat. We have changed, times have changed,

and France should learn to live with terrorism, and this is the message

of the Republic. We have to show solidarity, calm, and collective

calmness. France, once again, has been hit in its all on the 14th of

July, our national day. -- hit in its soul. The only dignified and

responsible response that France can give is that France will remain

loyal to the spirit of a 14th of July, a United and assembled France

around its values. This is the only demand that we are asking today.

Ladies and gentlemen we will have other pop opportunities during the

day to give you more supplementary elements. As you know the interior

and health ministers are still on place in Nice, and see you later.

The French Prime Minister Manuel Valls speaking in Paris, saying that

President Hollande has called for three days of national mourning in

France. The 16th, 17th and 18th of July. And quite a striking line from

what he had to say there, France should learn to live with terrorism,

he said. Thinking about the victims and the city of Nice, but that line,

France should learn to live with terrorism I think possibly the most

striking line in what he had to say. As the country tries to respond to

this horrendous attack. The practical characterisation of that I

suppose being this operation Sentinel, as they call it, another

10,000 military being put back into play as France finds itself once

again on the highest of alerts. I am joined by Margaret Gilmour from the

Royal United services Institute. Quite a statement, France has got to

learn to live with the -- with terrorism. A very sobering statement

particularly when you take into account the scale of the attacks

they have suffered in the last just over a year. We are talking 84 so

far last night, over 120 in Paris. These are huge attacks, a very

sobering thought, and if you compare that for example to the UK, the

biggest ever terrorist attack against UK citizens was actually

9/11, where nearly 70 UK citizens were taken out. But through the

whole of the IRA era, because we have lived through terrorism for

many decades, it never really went above 30, until we had the 52 on

7/7. That is quite a difficult one. Very properly, he concentrated there

on the families. Sadly, they know how to deal with these occasions,

and do the proper thing, and he did that very well there. I am sure they

do have details about what went on and who this person was but he

clearly wanted the families first. He alluded to the identities without

giving details. It will be difficult for many people to get beyond the

thought that this is a jihadists, but it is only one person as far as

we know. They will be working very hard to find out if it was but there

was no evidence to suggest anything else. We have had reports come in

that somebody on a motorcycle track to stop the vertical -- tried to

stop the vehicle before it went into the crowd and we assumed they were

undercover police officers who were on to it. I understand in fact that

this was a rented vehicle. I am sure they know the identity, there were

papers in the vehicle, and they will be searching a flat right now, I

have no doubt, and the name will be being really put through the mill by

every intelligence agency in Europe, in fact across the world, to see if

he was communicating or linked to anybody else. That meeting in the

Earth is a Palace, -- the Elysee Palace, in a sense, if the

intelligence services did not know this person, they are dammed if they

did and they are dammed if they didn't. The fact they didn't is

going to concern people. Had they known who at once would perhaps

concern people more. You can't win, they are doing a lot of work,

arresting a lot of people across Europe and the UK, and they are

thwarting plots. One thing is for sure that relations between the

intelligence agencies is exceptionally good at the moment. I

would be very surprised if there weren't British intelligence

operatives in the same room as we speak as French ones, working away

on this, trying to help them. So I think they will be trying to find

out who he has been humiliated -- communicating with or who he has

been inspired by. And they have to double check, if he is working with

someone else, are they about to launch something else. Here we are

sitting in what is known as the Golden mile in the centre of London,

where since the day after the July seven, 2005 attacks, concrete and

steel ball odds were literally brought in by cranes in front of the

big public buildings, BBC security went sky-high. This type of security

just doesn't happen in large parts of France, and they are going to

have to think very carefully about that, putting out concrete to stop a

vehicle bomb, all sorts of things to stop more certificate -- more

sophisticated attacks but this, so awful and simple.

Since November they have been in a state of emergency, the police don't

get leave, they are stretched to breaking point. Absolutely, but I

wonder before November if you had had a response as quick as the

response was last night. If that security had not been in place. It

is clear somebody was going to stop that vehicle going into the crowd

before it actually ploughed into the crowd. And within a very few minutes

terrible carnage. Within a few minutes there were officers who knew

the direction it was going in who stood in front of it and have the

authority to shoot at that driver to stop it continuing. Eventually,

sadly. Very quickly. I suppose the other feature of what we have seen

here and you have referred to the brutality of it, and Jon Donnison in

Nice was saying and the simplicity of it. We have been saying this for

a few years now, we keep getting incidents the like of which we have

never seen before and they are coming on to our territory

effectively. Absolutely and there had been a shift in concentration to

understanding that Isis in particular had been training up

these cells and sending them back quietly to Europe and carrying out

these multiple gun and suicide attacks, control, manipulated by

buses in Syria and Iraq. And here we have almost back to the years we saw

before that, in a number of countries, many of them Isis

inspired, where you have possibly and individual, you don't know fish

oil, possibly doing something on his own in the simplest kind of world --

in the simplest kind of way, but my goodness, devastating. Margaret

Gilmore, thank you very much. Eyewitnesses have been telling us

how the events unfolded last night. The BBC's Kelly described how people

reacted when it became apparent that an attack was taking place. I was at

the Bastille celebrations and had been watching the firework display.

It finished round about 20 past ten local time. As I turned to walk away

back to my apartment, I heard what I thought was at first a bit of an

explosion but maybe that was my imagination, but almost

instantaneously people started to scream and run in all directions.

The police, who were not, promenade, who were redirecting the traffic in

the city centre, they have started running in the opposite direction

towards me, and they made a very firm point that we have to leave as

quickly as possible. I then heard what I thought were firecrackers,

just assumed it was part of the firework display but I later

realised it was the gunshots that I heard. It was a case of panic for a

good ten to 15 minutes that followed. I am staring at the lorry

that is no more than half a mile away, and yes there are bullet holes

in the windscreen. Quite extraordinary as to how it happened

because the reports were that it was moving in the region of about 90

kph. It is quite clear what its intention was. At that point that is

when the police opened fire to try to stop it. It moved so quickly

through the crowd that it was a most impossible if not impossible for

people to get away. There was a huge, dense population of people

coming to celebrate Bastille Day. And then all of a sudden, this huge

panic erupted from the street and everyone was running in the general

direction away from the Negresco, and where the Nice Jazz Festival was

being held. I got separated from my aunt and uncle and I was looking

around for them, and we just had no idea what was going on, it was

complete chaos, and people were screaming, kids were crying,

security guards were on their walkie-talkies. I only speak a

little bit of French, but you could hear words being mumbled, suicide,

and you are just thinking my gosh, what is going on? It was insane,

because my family and I were in that exact spot in front of the Negresco

20 minutes before it happened. We were so close. And to have all of

that erupt on such a positive evening, it was just such a paradox.

And so terrible. There were a few people caught in a push and a crush.

I helped an elderly lady up and another lady as well. She just

needed a bit of attention to get her a bit more to safety as well. Did

you see anything as the attack was developing, and in the immediate

aftermath? In the immediate aftermath I saw a little bit of it,

it was quite hard to get to. Five or ten minutes afterwards, the police

and the military were covering the promenade, it was completely closed

down. I think they sort of gave themselves probably about a 100 yard

barrier between where people could actually get up to two the truck

where a lot of this carnage unfolded. You really struggle to see

through there, the police and military presence was very happy and

they were quite keen to try to push people away from the promenade. I am

assuming that is just a safety protocol, to make sure nothing else

and folded and people were out of harm's way. The voice of the will

Shaw, one of the eyewitnesses. These are the pictures right now from

Nice. You can see the police have put up a screen across the road.

That effectively blocks out the view of the lowly, the lorry, that

ploughed through so many people there late last night. The operation

underway in terms of sealing off the site, as the investigation, and that

will be run from Paris now, as that steps up a gear. Just to point out

also that the French Prime Minister was talking about security levels

and the highest state of alert across the country. We are hearing

also that the German Federal police have announced they are also

tightening controls at their French borders. That is in agreement with

the French security authorities. So that sense of tightening of

security, of raising the bar again clearly underway.

As we heard in the last few minutes, Francois Hollande has announced

three days of national mourning, the 16th, 17th and 18th of July. Let's

listen to a little more about what the ad he -- of what he had to say.

TRANSLATION: Horror has come down on France again. In Nice tonight, a

truck rushed into a crowd who had gathered for the fireworks for the

14th of July with the intention of killing, crushing and massacring. We

deplore, at this moment, 77 victims, including several children. And

around 20 people injured with critical injuries. This attack, of

which the terrorist character cannot be denied, is once again of a

violence that is horrific. It is clear that we need to do everything

that we can to fight against terrorism. The driver has been shot

down. We don't know at this moment whether he had accomplices, we are

doing everything we can do to make sure that his identification puts us

on the track of any accomplices. France has been hit on the day of

its national day, the 14th of July, a symbol of freedom. Because human

rights are denied by fanatics, and France is, therefore, their target.

I am expressing on behalf of the nation our solidarity with the

victims and with their families. All means available will be deployed to

help the injured. The white plan, which mobilises all regional

hospitals, has been set into motion. After Paris in January 2015, and

then again in November, Nice is now hit. It is all of France which is

under the threat of Islamic terrorism. Nothing will make us give

up in our will to fight terrorism. And we will reinforce in our actions

in Syria and Iraq, and we will continue to hit those who attack us

on our soil in their homes. Present long that the Elysee Palace,

speaking a few hours ago, his first response. His message was that

France should learn to live with terrorism, as he raised the terror

level to the highest. Let us go back to Nice, to our

correspondent. The lorry has now been blocked from view. We can see

the fight sheeting that has been put up. We are hearing that the

attacker's identity papers were found in the lorry with him.

That's right. We understand that his identification was found,

identifying him as a 31-year-old of dual Tunisian and French

nationality, a man who was apparently known to police in terms

of a criminal background, for minor criminal offences, but he wasn't

known, apparently, to intelligence services. Police are BS they going

to be looking into his background today, trying to find if he was

acting entirely alone was part of some sort of group. On the Promenade

des Anglais this morning, an uneasy sense, an uneasy, really. And a sort

of disbelief that jars with the beautiful surroundings here on the

beach-front. Many people actually just woke up to this news this

morning. The promenade behind me is cordoned off this morning, but last

night it will have been absolutely packed with people who were enjoying

those bastille day celebrations. They had been watching the fireworks

that go off over the Mediterranean every year. And the whole area, it

is a six lane Hwy, the Promenade des Anglais, but yesterday it had been

cordoned off and pedestrianised. Many people had just been on the

streets. Some of the video footage we've seen are the moment the attack

happened, there was a sense of total disbelief, and then panic as people

realised what was going on. And we have just been hearing from

the French Prime Minister, saying that France would not allow itself

to be destabilises by violence, but also saying that France should learn

to live with terrorism. What you think people will make of those

statements? Look, I think France has had to be

living with the threat of terrorism for some time now, as have, indeed,

many, many countries. I think what is so kind of shocking about this is

that this was not some high-tech attack. This was shocking in its

banality, I suppose, and its brutality. This was someone using a

vehicle as a weapon of war, and we just simply haven't seen those

methods, certainly not in Europe, in recent times. There have been

attacks like that, using vehicles, in places like Israel, but we have

not seen it in Europe, and certainly not on that sort of scale. The Prime

Minister is right, I think, in saying that France will have to live

with terrorism. Going back to something you said in

your first response, John, about the attacker being known to police but

not to the security services. It's not the first time, when we look at

attacks in France in the last 18 months, that we have heard that, and

I wonder, taking into consideration the review of cooperation between

the various divisions of law enforcement in the country, whether

this is something that police and security services will be looking at

more closely in the future, whether someone who has a criminal record

but is not known to be radicalised, whether that could be someone who is

of interest to them. We don't know that at this stage, we

do not know the background of this man.

Apologies, we have lost the line to Nice, but we will hopefully be back

with him very soon. We are going to have a word with

John Woodcock, the Labour MP per barrel who narrowly missed being

caught up in the attack. Thank you for joining us. Are you there on a

break? -- the Labour MP for Barrow in Furness.

We were here for the bastille day celebrations. We were very fortunate

in that we left the promenade as soon as the fireworks finished. Our

first sense that something was wrong was when lots of people were running

past us, and sirens and police cars were going in the opposite

direction. Everyone to whom I spoke who was running away did not know

what they were running from. They were running because other people

were running, so my guess was initially that this was some sort of

false alarm which had panicked people. It was only once we were

back and we invited a French family who had a better sense that

something real had happened and were trying get -- trying to get off the

street and back to the apartment that we were able to piece things

together. We looked at Twitter and then eventually the French news. We

have heard some really harrowing stories, some very shaken people,

understandably. What do you make of all this? Yellow might well, you

just... Everyone, I think, around the world and in Britain will feel

for the people of Nice and the people of France, who have been

targeted so much over recent months. We see now a city where people are,

as you expect, going about their business. It is going about its day.

It is heartbreaking to see, particularly on the day of

liberation, their big celebration of freedom, that this kind of thing can

strike France. You know from experience everywhere that there has

been terrorist attacks, from London to Paris, that these are people who

will resolutely not change their way of life, in spite of what man or

maybe a group has been able to do. We are struggling a bit with the

audio there, but the picture tells you that it is a city of beauty

caught in a moment of devastation. Thank you very much for joining us.

Joining us now from Bristol is Professor James Shields, who

specialises in French politics and modern history. Professor Shields,

thank you for taking the time to talk to us on BBC News today. I want

to begin with those comments from the French Prime Minister, saying

that France will not allow itself to be destabilised by violence, but

that France should learn to live with terrorism, which of course it

has been for the last 18 months or so. But nonetheless, it is quite

striking French citizens to hear their political leaders say that. I

think that's right. I think there is something of a shift going on here.

Of course, we have said that this is the third major terrorist atrocity

that France has suffered in 18 months, the third time that Francois

Hollande has had to go on television, address the nation and

seek to reassure the French that their Government is doing everything

it can to keep them safe. What we are hearing now is that same

discourse, that it is the Government was my responsibility to do

everything it can to keep France safe, but on the other hand, there

is no such thing, clearly, as absolute security, as last night's

incident, during a state of emergency, proves. In that sense,

then, is the further extension of the state of emergency, the use of

these sorts of powers by a Government, particularly effective?

Well, that is the question. We just don know whether stepping up the

state of emergency is going to have any tangible effect. Of course, it

has to be done, and the president has to be seen to do it. So we will

see in France a continuation of this state of emergency, nine months now,

and it may go one further. We will see armed police and military on the

streets, liberties curtailed and more intrusive powers for the state

upon the Citizen. All of these things Ahmed, firstly, to reassure,

and secondly, to bring about some sort of increase in security. But it

is very difficult -- all of these things are meant, firstly to

reassure. How do you think this is going to filter through politics in

France, particularly politics on the right in France? I think this will

have serious political repercussions. Remember, we are only

several months out from a presidential election next spring.

Francois Hollande wants to run and be re-elected, but he has some

serious challengers. What I think will happen is that, on the right

particularly, as you suggest, the agenda will focus increasingly on

security and on Francois Hollande's perceived failings to have kept

France safe on his watch. I think this will become a central issue in

the presidential campaign. We have primary is on the conservative right

coming up in November, primaries on the socialist left coming up in

January, and I see that this will now sit at the centre of both of

those primary campaigns. Professor James Shields, thank you very much.

You're watching BBC News. Just to bring you right up to date on the

situation, we told you a moment or two ago, that the German authorities

have said that they are raising security levels with their border

points with France. Just to expand on that, that is road, rail and air

crossings, all of them in conjunction with the French

authorities are being after the incident last night in Nice itself,

on the Promenade des Anglais, when so many people, 84 at last count,

were killed in an attack by a gunman driving a truck for the best part of

two kilometres along the seafront, killing as he went. We are keeping

you across the details as they come to us here on BBC News.

This is BBC News with David Eades and Annita McVeigh.

A major attack in the French city of Nice - 84 people have been killed

President Hollande says the truck attack in Nice that killed 84 people

last night was undeniably terrorist in character.

The lorry ploughed into huge crowds celebrating the national

The Prime Minister Manuel Valls spoke in the last half hour.

TRANSLATION: We have two show solidarity, calm and collected

calmness. France once again has been hit in its sole on the 14th of July,

our national day. They want to attack the unity of the French

nation. The attack came without warning, many at first but it was a

lorry out of control. The driver has been formally identified as a

31-year-old male of Franco Tunisian origin. After he produced a gun he

was shot dead. He is known to the place but not known to the

intelligence agencies. Starts to excel from here on, and then you

have this massacre taking place. But up until here it was driving like

really in an odd way, very slowly. President Hollande has extended the

country's state of emergency and prepared for the mobilisation of up

to 10,000 military and police reserve lists. He has been holding

emergency security meetings at the Elysee Palace. As flags are lowered

at the French Embassy in London, a Downing Street spokesman says

Britain is shocked by the incident. The Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson

gave his response. Clearly this represents a continuing threat, if

this is a terrorist incident, as it appears to be, it represents a

continuing threat to us in the whole of Europe and we must meet it

together. France and ounces three days of national mourning. The

attack has been condemned around the world. The European Commission

President's said that Europe stood united with France. President Obama

condemned what he described as an horrific attack. I am Jon Donnison

live on these's Promenade des Anglais, where the French are once

again waking up to news of mass murder on

The attack happened at around 11pm local time in the Mediterranean

city. 18 people are said to be in a critical condition. At least 50

people were injured in oral, with confirmation that one Britain is

among them. Witnesses say that the lorry was driven deliberately and at

speed, ramming into the crowd over a long distance, about two kph the

Promenade des Anglais, leaving a trail of dead and injured, several

children among them. It is understood that the lorry was driven

along the road from west to east, so heading into towards the centre of

the city. Witnesses say the truck struck several people near the Hotel

Negresco, a well-known local landmark. The French security

services set up a security cordon around where the attack took place,

centred on the Plas Massena. President Hollande said the deplored

what he called a terrorist attack and he announced an extension of the

state of emergency for a further three months. Jane Frances-Kelly has

this report. A truck approaches the crowd, a motorcyclist swerves to

avoid it before the police open fire. The vehicle speeds up.

Eyewitnesses say it mounted the pavement, zigzagging as it

went, indiscriminately mowing down everyone in its path. Families and

friends who had gathered to watch the fireworks along the city's

waterfront promenade fled in panic through the streets. One tourist

described the immediate aftermath. I grabbed my fiance and he started

running. We are not local so we really didn't know where we were

going, if we were going towards something. It seemed like everyone

was running away from something. We were just turning down alleys and

kind of looking for somewhere that might be safe. This morning police

have cordoned off the crime scene. The windscreen of the lorry is

peppered with bullet holes. Eyewitnesses say when it came to a

halt the driver opened fire before being shot dead by officers. The

attackers thought to be a 31-year-old French born Tunisian who

is known to police but the petty offences. He said carry out any

attacks, even if you are on your own com you can use a knife commute and

use a car, you can use what you like and you don't have to have a rubber

stamp from us, was the message. And what happened was that there were

attacks on every country that he mentioned and a number of other

countries. At the Elysee Palace, military and government officials

arrived for an emergency national and security defence meeting. It is

being chaired by President Hollande, who earlier extended the state of

emergency that has been in place since November's Paris attacks, in

which 130 people died. TRANSLATION: France has been hit on its national

day, 14th of July, symbol of freedom. Because human rights are

denied by fanatics. And France is therefore their target. After the

meeting, the French Prime Minister announced three days of national

mourning, and the odd that the country would not be destabilised by

violence. TRANSLATION: We would like to tell the French people that

France will not give in to the terrorist threat. We have changed,

times have changed, and France should learn to live with terrorism.

This is the message of the Republic. We have two show solidarity, calm

and collected calmness. British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson

expressed grave concern. Clearly this represents a continuing threat

to us if it is a terrorist incident, that it appears to be, and we must

meet it together. Many remain in a critical condition in hospital, the

city and France are in a state of shock.

We are just seeing a comment from the French National front leader

Marine Le Pen. She says on her party's website in response to this

attack on Nice that the war against Islamist fundamentalism must begin.

That is a quote from Marine Le Pen. If you saw just a few minutes ago

our interview with a politics professor, someone who specialises

in French politics, he argued that this attack would have significant

implications for elections coming up in France in the next few months,

with parties on the right of French politics in particular seeking to

bolster their vote in the wake of this attack. We are getting the

ramifications are spreading, a word from the London mayor, Sadiq Khan,

also saying that we are reviewing our own safety measures in the light

of what has gone on in Nice as well. Let's just get a sense as to what

did happen in Nice last night. We are joined by a man who saw the

attack happening, he joins us on the line from Nice. Thank you for

joining us, tell us what you did see. Actually, first of all, you

have to excuse my English, and my voice, because I am still in shock,

still under the stress of the situation. So forgive me for any

mistakes I will do in the language. I was up enjoying the fireworks

among the people on the beach, and it was lovely, and just a few

minutes after the ending of the fireworks, we moved to the main

street just beside the sea. All the people were in the middle crossing

the street, and suddenly we hear screaming loudly, a lot of people

screaming, and I just looked in front of me, and I saw a truck just

coming in front of me. It's just stopped one and a half metres in

front of me. He was smashing all the people on his way under the truck.

Me and someone just if few metres beside, we thought it was an

accident, and that is why we were screaming at the driver to stop, to

stop. I was waving to him, I could see him very clearly, actually, and

he was very nervous, and he was moving in the car in a very nervous

way. We thought he had lost control of the wheel and of the break, and

that he couldn't stop the car. The guy mixed me pulled out a black tell

from under the truck. She was not moving at all. I kept yelling at

him, and I saw him picking up something that looked like a

cellphone. I thought maybe he would the ambulance. Suddenly when he saw

the police coming towards him, he was behind me, because I was facing

the window of this car, and he was coming behind me, screaming,

yelling, stop, stop! I saw him taking out his gun, and he started

to shoot through the window. To the police. At that moment one of the

French officers yelled at me, screamed, and he pushed me away. I

realised that something was wrong, something wrong was happening, so I

just stepped back for like four metres, and I didn't know what I was

doing, except I just picked up my phone, my cell phone, and started

filming the gun shooting. And the police surrounded the car and

started shooting to ensure he was dead. I saw him dead already, I saw

his head outside the window of the truck, and the French police officer

when he saw Mr ending and filming, he came to me aggressively and

yelled at me to get down, get down. So I got down, I was still filming,

and after that, just one or two seconds, the police came to us,

asking us seriously run, run. They asked all of the people on the beach

to run, because they thought maybe there was a bomb in the car or

something or other people hiding inside the truck. So at that moment

I realised this is something really wrong, and I started to run with the

people. So you were incredibly close to what happened. And to go from

thinking that this was some sort of dreadful accident to realising that,

in fact it was something very sinister was incredibly shocking,

I'm sure. We never thought it was an attack, we thought it was an

accident. Even when he took out his gun, I thought someone was attacking

him and he is an innocent driver. And he is going to defend himself

against someone attacking him from the other side, which I cannot see.

But when he started to shoot over the police, I realised that

something was wrong, clearly. I understand you are on holiday in

Nice? Yes, I came just a couple of days ago, I arrived on Wednesday for

a holiday for four days. So you are due to leave tomorrow presumably? I

just wonder what you do with your time, with that sense of shock and

deep grief, I imagine you are expertly and sing? I didn't think

about anything, because a lot of people asked me about how I felt and

why I acted like this. All I can say is I didn't think of anyone or

anything, except trying to help the people on the ground. I saw them

already injured or dead. I was trying to get some help. But did not

think it was attack. It was an emotional reaction. I don't know. It

just happened like that. I understand that you went into a cafe

afterwards, and that staff there looked after you yes, somebody from

the BBC was really kind, his name was Andy, the was a reporter, and he

saw me running and I was really shaking because it was really cold

or so. Under the shock and the stress of the situation he was

trying to calm me down. He advised me to go home but I was alone so

didn't like to go to the hotel. I just stopped in front of the cafe

and realised what happened, they offered me to come inside to stand

some bumps, and they offered me hot rinks and relaxing a little bit. --

-- come inside just with some warmth. We have heard reports that

the truck that was travelling clearly for quite a long way VR. On

to the promenade itself off the road. Is that what you saw? I saw

him coming, but I didn't know where he was coming from. I just saw him

coming just in front of me. I cannot know where he came from or how long

he drove, but all I can say is he was just taking anyone in front of

him, just crashing them on his way. Thank you for your account of what

was clearly an extremely difficult time for you. Many thanks. We can't

talk now to James Nash, who was also near the scene of the attack. James,

thank you for talking to us. Tell us what you saw. I didn't actually see

the truck itself, but I was there with my sister and friend, watching

the fireworks. We were opposite the tourism office on the Promenade des

Anglais. When the fireworks finished, we crossed the promenade

and the road to go one the pavement on the other side to head to the old

town and go on to a bar. We heard some gunshots, or some loud bangs.

At the time, we just thought it was some people letting off fireworks or

bangers, crackers. We didn't think much of it. Moments after we turned

onto a side street to go to the old town, we started to see a few people

running. Again, we didn't think much of it. Then more people started

running. Then a French lady shouted out that she had just seen somebody

shooting, and then the crowd started to gather pace. Suddenly, it turned

into hundreds of people going down all the streets. The shops were

closing up. They had people inside them to try to keep them safe. We

saw parents ticking up their kids and running. It was absolutely, you

know, pandemonium. All those streets lead on to a large square in Nice, I

forget the name of it. When we got there, we saw that every road

leading from the promenade to that square was full of people running

for their lives. Place Massena is the one you mean. Yes, correct. It

stretches quite a long way from just a bit inland from the promenade. It

was absolute chaos. At the time, we thought it could be a false alarm,

cause it could have been fireworks let off by anyone. But we didn't

want to take the risk, so we went straight to the car that was parked

in a car park about 300 metres away, managed to get in the car, and then

there were police waving us through red lights, telling us to get out of

here. I think we were some of the last people to be able to get out of

the city. James, I just wonder, you mentioned that the police were

advising you to get out and fast - did you get a sense of a fast

security response, if you like, to this incident? Yellow that you have

to remember that there was a very heavy police presence, even before

the incident. -- you have to remember that there was a very heavy

police presence, even before the incident. The whole lot. They were

probably quite well prepared, but afterwards, to answer your question,

yes, when we started hearing sirens and seeing the looks on the faces

police personnel, the way that ambulances were driving in the

street, we had to veer off to them pass. We knew by then that it was

serious. And we were listening to France catlike in full, the French

news programme -- France Info, the French news programme, but it was

only when we got back to our flat, about three or four kilometres

outside of Nice, that the news started to pick up on the deaths and

the fact that it was obviously terrorism related. James, it sounds

from your description as though only really a very short time had elapsed

between you leaving the promenade and hearing those sounds, which

turned out to be gunshots. You must feel very lucky that you left the

promenade when you did. I am not clear whether you are on holiday on

whether you live in Nice, but how does the city fielded a cosmic

first, we walked all the way along the promenade, move away from Hotel

Negresco back to the town. We were trying to get to the opposite end of

the beach, further away from the incident. The fireworks started-

Ahrar earlier because of a forecast of high winds, so they managed to

get it in earlier. Originally, they were going to cancel it, so it was

touch and go whether the fireworks would happen in the first place. We

walked straight past where the incident occurred. We were actually

standing watching the fireworks when the truck passed. Obviously, I don't

want to think about it too much, all the ifs. But it does make you think,

it really does. In terms of the atmosphere in Nice, I am slightly

outside Nice now, so I couldn't tell you that, but I am determined to go

back to Nice before my holiday is over. I don't want these people to

change our lives completely. James Nash, thank you very much indeed for

giving us your account of what has happened. A major jazz festival

takes place in Nice this weekend. That, of course, has been cancelled,

as have all the cultural festivities for the time being.

We're joined now by our security correspondent, Frank Gardner. Frank,

it is not the first time that vehicles have been driven at

pedestrians, but this, it seems to me, is unprecedented.

This is on a totally different scale. You referred to an incident

in Dijon in 2014, where a man with mental problems drove into a crowd

will stop he had mental problems and there was no direct link to

so-called Islamic State. But it was a warning, perhaps quite prescient,

of the carnage that could because by something like this. The spokesman

for so-called Islamic State, Abu Muhammad Al-Adnani, called on people

months ago to carry out this type of attack. IES are under enormous

pressure in Syria and Iraq, the war is not going their way in either of

those places, but they are still a force to be reckoned with. They are

still an attractive alternative for some people who have perhaps

grievances with the Shi'ite regime in Iraq or President Assad in Syria.

Their tentacles reach into a number of places all over the world, but

particularly in Europe. I would be very surprised if this doesn't turn

out to be in some way linked, not necessarily directed, they may take

responsibility, I don't want to speculate, but it follows the

pattern of other apparently lone wolf attacks where people have

decided to take on the role themselves, without necessarily even

having visited Syria. It is interesting, because there has

been taught by both the president and Prime Minister of possible

accomplices, saying they will hunt them down. They have extremely

little to go on, not least because it appears the intelligence services

were not following this individual. No, he is, according to police

sources, he is a 31-year-old Tunisian born French person, but has

no links to extreme radical groups. That is actually quite common. A lot

of the people that IES and before them Al-Qaeda were getting to do

their dirty work for them were at foot soldier level. I'd hesitate to

call them soldiers, because they are criminals, murderers, and in this

case, a childminder. They are people who have been in and out of prison,

who have been involved in petty crime, theft, pickpocketing,

prostitution, all sorts of things. And then they have this kind of

conversion and the site to purge themselves of these earlier sins.

They think they are doing this by committing some far greater horror.

What evidence is there that the French security services will start

to turn their attention towards these individuals? We spoke recently

about that review policing, law enforcement, the security agencies

in France, and it was critical of a lack of communication between the

various branches, wasn't it? That is not a problem just in

France, Belgium, too. It comes down to better intelligence. Thousands of

troops on the streets may offer some reassurance and deterrence, but

clearly, they haven't deterred this. This was Bastille Day, so it would

have taken some elements are planning to do this. I would be very

surprised if this was a completely lone wolf attack. There is no such

thing as that. There are always connections, either online or in the

real world. It is the latest in a series of

dreadful incidents for France. Why France? There are things happening

in other places, and Belgium is an example, but France is getting the

brunt of this. It is the number one target of

opportunity for IES and like-minded jihadists. It is for a number of

reasons. It has taken an active role in trying to push back jihadists

around the world, but notably in Mali, Iraq and Syria. They took a

leading role in Mali. They stop Islamic State from taking over.

Syria is a former French protectorate, and they have been

active there in our strike, also in Iraq. There is a problem

domestically within France. The ban on the burqa is seen as hostile to

Islam. There are large areas of French cities, the suburbs. These

are pretty desperate places, the suburbs, where hardly anybody is

living there who hasn't arrived in the last generation or two. Many of

them feel that they are left out of the modern French state. It is not

unique to France. There are parts of Britain that feel the same, but in

France, it has tapped into a vein of discontent that makes some people

prone and former rebel to conversion to extreme radical Islam. If you

look at the prisons in France, that is where a lot of it happens. So

much radicalisation takes place in French prisons, so that people go in

with a record of petty crime and they come out as hardened jihadists.

What sort of cooperation will be going on between the French

intelligence services and services elsewhere in Europe in the wake of

this? They will probably have had communal

calls together. This is an area where Britain, I think, Britain's

expertise will be wanted, regardless of Brexit. Security overrides any of

that. There will be a sharing of expertise. I have no doubt...

Whether or not is a cobra crisis meeting is held in London today,

there will be urgent consultations. Is Britain is doing everything it

can? Is Germany? Germany in the last few hours has tightened its border

controls. This is a problem with open borders in Europe. I am not

saying they are good or bad, but it is a function of open borders that

people have been able to pass from one country to another without

detection, and so those need to be strengthened to stop this kind of

thing. If you look at the aftermath of the Paris attacks and the

Brussels attacks, there are signs that people have been able to cross

over borders. Indeed, and with each of the last

few of these incidents, there has been this clarion call to say, we,

as a group of countries, must coordinate better. Is there any real

sense that that is happening yet? There is no button you press that

says, we now know where all the suspects are, but do you get a sense

that there is a more coordinated effort going on?

It is very slow, David. Part of the problem is that national

intelligence agencies don't like putting good, hard intelligence into

a wide pool. Why would they? The bigger the pool, the more likely it

is to leak. The ideal of a pan-European intelligence agency, it

isn't going to happen. There will continue to be close corporation

between London and Paris, Paris and Madrid, Paris and Berlin. But top

intelligence people will get together and share a general

thoughts, but they are unlikely to share the immediate hard action

intelligence with anybody other than the people they think need to act on

it straightaway. Knight just on those comments from

the French Prime Minister, saying that France has to learn to live

with terrorism, it is an interesting thing, even though France has been

in practical terms living with terrorism, living with these huge

attacks for some time now. Yes, and of course the extension of the

National state of emergency which was due to be finished this weekend,

that will now go on for another three months. Is that really

effective? It obviously hasn't been because it hasn't stopped this. It

puts more troops on the streets, it gets people on their guard, but no,

it is never going to be completely effective. You can make burglary

crime but it is not going to stop burglary. It might reduce it, to it,

but it will not stop it. The mentality behind this, and behind

other attacks in France, actually, do you know what, it is too early to

say exactly. But let's look at the previous Paris attacks in France,

the Bataclan and the Charlie Hebdo, they are a commendation of

deterrence and revenge. People saying if you are going to do this,

we will do this back to you. They are also hoping to scare the French

government away from taking part in air strikes. That isn't going to

happen, I think. They would probably increase the commitment to the

US-led action in Iraq and Syria. President Hollande has said

precisely that, that both Syria and Iraq their efforts would be

increased. Frank Gardner, thank you very much indeed. Just briefly tell

you a line I am seeing on the AP newsagency, we don't have

confirmation on these figures, saying

you are watching BBC News, let me just remind you of the main

developments on the breaking news in the last few hours. France has

declared three days of national mourning for the 84 victims about is

believed to have been a terror attack in the southern French city

of Nice. A lorry ploughed into huge crowds as they enjoyed celebrations

in the country's National bastille day. As we are hearing, children are

among the dead. Around 50 people were injured, more than a dozen of

them critically, one British person has been hurt. We have been told the

Foreign Office says officials are standing by to help. The Foreign

Secretary Boris Johnson gave this response.

Clearly it represents a continuing threat, if it is a terrorist

incident, as it appears to be, it represents a continuing threat to

the whole of Europe and we must continue to

meet it together. The attack itself came without warning after a

fireworks display, many people thought it was just a lorry out of

control. The driver who has a 31-year-old Franco Tunisian man was

shot dead after he produced a gun. Downing Street is flying the French

flag at half-mast. The attack has been condemned around the world.

Chancellor Merkel of Germany spoke of her shock and disbelief and

President Obama has condemned what he described as an horrific attack.

President Hollande has been holding an urgent security meeting at the

elite is a Palace. -- at the Elysee Palace. Plans are in place for the

mobilisation of up to 10,000 military and police reserve lists.

Announcing those three days of national mourning for the victims of

the attack, the French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said France

had to learn to live with terrorism but that it would not allow itself

to be destabilised by the violence. This is what he said earlier.

TRANSLATION:, following the meeting of the head of state, we have held a

meeting bringing together security and defence ministers. France has

once again been hit by a terrorist act, a cowardly act, and during

these very difficult times, our thoughts are with the victims and

with the families who have been affected by this tragedy. And we are

thinking about the city of Nice, where we are going to visit shortly.

Terrorism, we have been saying it for a long time, is a threat that is

weighing heavily on France, and which will carry on to weigh on

France. I had on many occasions said unfortunately that we would have had

such incidents, and there will be others. We are facing a war that

terrorism has started against us. The objectives of the terrorist is

to instil fear and panic. France and the president of the Republic has

reminded us is a big country, a big democracy, that will not allow

itself to be destabilised. The emergency and the urgency that we

have talked about is to welcome the families, and to look after the

bodies and close ones after identifications. The whole of the

services of the state are being deployed to help the families, and

to accompany them during these particularly difficult times. The

president of the Republic has called for national mourning for the 16th,

17th and 18th of July. Out of respect for the victims. Flags will

fly at half-mast along the Republic officers, the official offices in

the Republic. The meeting of defence and security, we would like to tell

the French people that we will never give in. France will not give in to

the terrorist threat. We have changed, times have changed, and

France should learn to live with terrorism, and this is the message

of the Republic. We have to show solidarity, calm and collected

calmness. France once again has been hit in its soul, on 14th of July, a

national day. They wanted to attack the dignity of the French nation.

The only responsible response that France can give is that France will

remain loyal to the spirit of the 14th of July. A united and assembled

France around its values. This is the only demand that we are asking

today. Manuel Valls, the French Prime

Minister, just had a few words from the Belgian feminist, following on

from the March Belgium attack. This is Charles Michel, who said to

journalists that the authorities had been considering the facility of a

terrorist using a vehicle to attack a crowd. He added that there would

be appropriate measures, did not specify them, but that appropriate

measures would be taken to safeguard events scheduled to mark their

Belgian national day on 21st July. Charles Michel speaking after a

meeting of the Belgian government called following that lorry attack

in Nice. We have been speaking to a number of witnesses who have been in

Nice, were there last night. Among them Jim Harris, an American lawyer,

who lives in London but is living in Nice. We were stood there watching a

street performer when suddenly there was a massive surge of people

heading from the north end. We didn't want to get trampled, so we

try to run with them. Some of the rifle down in front of me and I had

to stop and help them up and after that I lost track of my friends.

Have you done so? Yes, I was able to find them. That is one good sign I

suppose will stop Eric, I can't really imagine what the feelings

must be like when this is going on? We heard there was done such --

gunshots that people thought might have been fireworks. A total with

the people running away. Yes, we were down on the beach at a

restaurant. The Promenade des Anglais is about three metres or so

above the beach, and we heard the gunshots. I do know how people could

have confused it for fireworks, because the firework show had ended

a number of minutes before. We heard the pop, pop, pop sounds, and my

wife, though she is deaf actually, the sounds and people were throwing

themselves off the promenade onto the beach. Onto the roof of the

restaurant. Did you see the truck at all? No, we were on the beach level,

and the road is elevated. Again, the level of fear I can't imagine. We

are just leaving that to bring you to the French Embassy in London, the

French ambassador to the UK. It is the third time France have been

struck by a terrorist attack and all our thoughts are with the victims of

the families of the victims. I would like to thank the British

authorities as they expressed their sympathy and their solidarity, and

we have received it from Theresa May, the Prime Minister, and Boris

Johnson, the Foreign Secretary, who celebrated with us last night on

Bastille Day. Also because the 14th of July is a very symbolic day, it

is a symbol of freedom, liberty, egalitarian and fraternity and I

think that is what the terrorists want to fight. I would like to tell

you think case there are some British worrying, we have an

emergency phone number, which I will read. 003343175646. Sorry. One

second. You forgot one number. No. I would like to say also there has

been a security and defence meeting this morning, and some extra

measures have been taken and will be taken also in the future. The

president will ask for the extension of this state of emergency, and for

the operational reserves also. France is strong country, it is a

resilient country, a united country, we are determined to fight against

terrorism. Why is your country being hit with such frequency? That is

what I said, we are a target because of the symbol, fume and the, and

that is what they are fighting also. I have received many phone calls and

messages from people, especially those who celebrated with us last

night Bastille Day. The French ambassador to London just stressing

that the attack in Nice was for her an attack on the symbolism of

liberte, egalite, fraternite, and she put out a number for British

citizens who might be worried about family members in Nice. 003343

175646. If you do need to get in touch with anyone who you think

should be in Nice, or may still be there, that is the number that the

French authorities are putting out. The ambassador therefore adding that

France may be a target but it is a strong, resilient and united

country. And she said all our thoughts are with the victims of the

attack in Nice, and their families. And she thanked the government in

the UK for it's in the and solidarity, speaking as David was

just saying about the very symbolic nature of the 14th July, and how the

terrorists had chosen to strike on that day. We have heard from the

Mayor of London also in terms of a statement just to say that the City

of London is reviewing its own safety measures on the back of what

has happened in Nice, and also the German authorities have said that in

coordination with the French they are increasing security at the third

border crossings with France, whether that is airports, but also

by road and by rail. Our correspondent is outside the French

Embassy in central London for us. The French ambassador there quickly

as well as exposing her sympathy for the victims and their families

quickly thanking the government here in the UK for its solidarity with

the French government. Yes, that's right. The ambassador to France here

in London spoke on the steps thanking Bush Johnson, the new

Foreign Secretary, -- Boris Johnson, and we have heard that from a lot of

authority figures throughout. She also went on to say it was a

symbolic day of freedom in France, and that is where I she believes the

terrorists struck, they will stop she said there had been a security

and the task meeting this morning in France will stop obviously security

hugely stepped-up in the country, but also here in London. The Mayor

of London had said that security measures naturally are going to be

looked at, reviewed, broader presences are going to be stepped

up, and perhaps we might see many more police officers here in London

over the coming days or weeks or so. She wanted to send out that message

that France is a strong country, united with the UK here as well, and

she also gave out that telephone number. If anyone is worried about

relatives who may have been in Nice yesterday. 00314

3175646 for anyone who was concerned about any relatives who may have

been there yesterday. We go from the French embassy to

Downing Street. Let's have a look at the scene in Downing Street at the

moment. That is Boris Johnson a little earlier in the day. He has

been responding. We will pick on what he is black pick-up on what he

said in a moment. Just to you that Downing Street has the French flag

flying at half-mast in support of all the French people. As for the

new Foreign Secretary, Mr Johnson said the attack in Nice represents

what he called a continuing threat to the UK and Europe. Beasley, our

thoughts are very much with the people of France and Nice. An

absolutely appalling incident. There will be ministerial meetings later

on today to discuss the implications for this country. At this time, I

don't know about any implications for the UK. Clearly, this represents

a continuing threat, as a terrorist incident, to us and the whole of

Europe, and we must meet it together. Do you know there are any

Britons involved? The only information I have is that there was

one UK national who is injured, but it is early at the moment. Witnesses

have been telling us how the events unfolded in Nice last night. The

BBC's Roy Cali told us how people reacted when it became apparent and

attack was taking place. You'll like I was at the Bastille Day

celebrations and I was watching the fireworks, about 200 metres away. It

finished at about 10:20pm local time. -- I was at the Bastille Day

celebrations. People started to scream and to run in older actions.

The police who were redirecting the traffic in the city centre then

started running in the opposite direction, towards me. They made a

very firm point that we had to leave as quickly as possible. I then heard

what I thought were firecrackers, I assumed it was part of the display,

but I later realised it was the gunshots that I have. There was

panic for a good 10-15 minutes. I am on the promenade days anglais now.

There are bullet holes in the windscreen of the truck. -- on the

Promenade des Anglais. It was travelling at around 90 kilometres

per hour, and it was quite clear what its intention was. It was at

that point that the police opened fire to try to stop it. It was

almost impossible, if not impossible, for people to get away.

There was this huge, dense population of people coming together

to celebrate Bastille Day. Then this huge panic erupted in the street,

and everybody was running in the general direction away from the

Hotel Negresco and where the Nice Jazz Festival is being held. I got

separated from my aunt and uncle, and I was looking around for them,

and we had no idea what was going on. People were screaming, crying,

security guards were on their walkie-talkies. I only speak a

little French, but you could hear words being mumbled, like suicide.

You are thinking, my gosh, what is going on? It was insane, because my

family and I were in that exact spot in front of the Hotel Negresco 20

minutes before it happened. We were so close. To have all of that erupt

on such a positive evening, it was such a paradox and so terrible.

There were a few people who were caught in a crush. They were fleeing

through the narrow side streets. I helped an elderly lady up and

another lady who had been pushed on the floor and was stuck there. She

just needed some help to get back on her feet and get to safety. Did you

see anything as the attack was developing? In the immediate

aftermath, I saw a little bit. It was quite hard to get to. Five to

ten minutes afterward, the police were completely covering the

promenade and it was closed down. They created a 100 yard barrier

between where people could get to and the truck, where obviously a lot

of this carnage unfolded. You struggled to see through them. The

police presence was very heavy and they were keen to push people away

from the promenade. They were trying to make sure that people were out of

harm's way. Will sure, speaking. You will have heard so far today that

the attacker, the driver of this truck, has been identified by French

police. He is a 31 your old Franco Tunisian with dual nationality.

Reports are saying that he lived in Nice itself. He is reported to have

been identified by his driver's license, mobile phone and credit

card, which were found inside the lorry. Our diplomatic correspondent

is telling us that the regional president of Nice said that the man

had been picked up on security cameras, boarding the truck in the

hills above Nice and then driving down to the seafront promenade. The

regional president said that such attacks were not prepared our loan,

that there was a chain of complicity that needed to be uncovered. Those

are the latest details coming in to us about the attacker and his

movements. This appalling incident happened

barely 12 hours ago, so still far too early in the investigation to

say exactly what happened. Francois Hollande as described the attack as

having the characteristics of terrorism. The French Prime Minister

described it as a war that terrorism has brought. Over the past to make

years, France has suffered Islamist attacks. In January 2015, gun men

opened fire at the offices of the French magazine Charlie Hebdo. Then

a man was beheaded at Saint Quentin. And then in November last year, 130

people died in a series of bomb attacks. Then a police commander and

his wife were started death in April Christian suburb in June of this

year. We have a producer at Radio France in Paris who has reported on

past terror attacks. Catherine, thank you for joining us. This is

not in the French capital, and it is essentially an unprecedented manner

of attack, isn't it? Yeah yes, it is. He was not known by the

intelligence services. He is not in what we all know here now as the

less files, security files. -- what we now know here as the S files. He

had a criminal record, having used weapons already, but it was indeed a

new way to act. We know that the communications service of Islamic

State have asked people to use whatever means, to use their car,

and kill people, kill police and military. But this man has gone

through a crowd for a lot of families were. We are hearing that

50 children have been brought to the hospital since yesterday evening,

and that at least two have died. So this is also a new thing. The horror

is rising since January 2015 with the Charlie Hebdo

killing. And then the November killing at the end of last year,

when it was anyone, young people going to a concert. Now, children

and families. Catherine, are the French saying to themselves, asking

themselves why Bass? Why is this happening to our country? Of course.

They will be wondering. France is aimed at several reasons. One of

them is that the strategy of the perpetrators and those who push them

is to divide our country. We have a strong Muslim community in France.

They are the victims of lots of discrimination, and Isis is trying

to divide us, to bring people to hate this one that is not like me,

that is from a foreign background, that is young. And this is what they

are trying to do. France is the ideal country to do so. The

coalition has started to launch air strikes in the Middle East. We have

several bad records for Isis, including a law forbidding the

Islamic headscarf at school. It is internationally known that France

has this law that is a symbolic discrimination, or that is seen as a

symbolic discrimination against Muslims. You talk about what ISPs

trying to do. The reality, from what we have hard from both the Prime

Minister and the president in the last viewers, Manuel Valls said,

France should learn to live with terrorism. There is a nuance, but a

clear change in direction in terms of the effect that these attacks are

having on the country. You are right. It has been said in other

ways before, but this sense is very strong. How can we prevent someone

from doing this type of thing without acting much before he is

ready to act? It is a civilian war. It is not a war on our everyday

lives and stop we live normally, like in every other democracy. We

are rather rich and peaceful as a country. But it is indeed a war

against a certain type of action that is so difficult to avoid. Those

people were lucky enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

They will attack when there are lots of people, and I hope that we won't

be forbidden to gather again to celebrate together. We are not that

far from a presidential election in France. There is an element also

hear where a wedge is driven each time something like this happens

within the nation, whether it is supporters of the Front National or

the Socialist parties. That is why it is so difficult to find the good

solution against all of this. Our Government, of course our president,

who is probably running another -- running for another presidential

election, is talking about war, using this kind of vocabulary to

reassure everyone that he is a fighter who is going to war against

our enemies. For the moment, it has only prompted more votes for the

Front National. It had an amazing score, an amazing votes in the north

and south of France in the last regional elections in December.

Catherine, thank you very much. Giving us the political perspective

on a tragedy in France, the attack in Nice. 84 people we know have been

killed. As many as 50 children taken to hospital. Several children dead

as well. We will keep across development for you here on BBC

News. This is BBC News. A major attack in the French city

of Nice - 84 people have been killed

and many more are injured. through crowds celebrating

Bastille Day in the riviera city - including families attending

a fireworks display. The driver was shot dead by police

after producing a gun. He was a 31-year-old

Franco-Tunisian man - eyewitnesses described

what happened. He starts to accelerate from here on

and there, you had this massive call taking place, but up until here, it

was driving in a really odd way, really slowly.

Children are among the dead and one British person was hurt.

France declares three days of national mourning.

TRANSLATION: We have to show solidarity, calm and collected

calmness. France, once again, has been hit in its soul.

President Hollande says the terrorist nature

He extends the state of emergency and mobilises military reserves,

The attack is condemned around the world.

In Moscow, a minute's silence is held at US-Russia talks.

In London, the new Foreign Secretary gave his reaction.