The President of the Republic presided over a meeting at the Élysée Palace on Tuesday. a ceremony to award decorations in honor of the forces who intervened at the Bataclan November 13, 2015. Included in the official agenda of the presidency, this ceremony took the form of a strong tribute to the police officers, firefighters and representatives of the victims mobilized during one of the most traumatic nights in contemporary French history.
A ceremony of recognition for the Bataclan responders
During this ceremony awarding the Legion of Honour, Emmanuel Macron He decorated 55 members of the security forces who intervened at the Parisian concert hall on the night of the attacks, as well as two presidents of victims' associations. Among them were personnel from the Paris Police Prefecture, the BRI (Research and Intervention Brigade), the RAID (Research, Assistance, Intervention, Deterrence) unit, and the Paris Fire Brigade. The President had presented this ceremony as a commitment made in line with the commemorations planned for November 2025.
In his opening remarks, Emmanuel Macron emphasized the national significance of this tribute, declaring: "Ten years after the deadliest attacks our country has ever known, Paris remembers, France remembers. To all the victims and their families, the nation remains loyal."Following the same line of reasoning about memory, he added: "We forget no place, no face, no broken story."
"Honoring one's own" facing lasting trauma
The president then placed the Bataclan at the center of the collective memory of November 13th. "In our collective memory, the Bataclan occupies a unique place. That is why the nation had a duty to honor its own."he emphasized. (Referring to...) "immediacy" et "the scale of the task"He praised the commitment of those among whom, in his words, "Something stronger than fear has arisen."
Emmanuel Macron emphasized the extreme violence of the assault and the determination of those involved: “While terror struck, women and men made the choice to act, to save, to protect (…). Every step was a risk, every door a threat, every second a decision, and yet they advanced under the terrorists’ fire. It took courage, the courage of all those who did their duty quietly, without retreating.”
The painful memory of the November 13, 2015 attacks in Paris and Saint-Denis
On November 13, 2015, commandos led by the Islamic State group carried out a series of attacks at the Stade de France, in Saint-Denis, on the terraces of several Parisian bars and restaurants, and at the Bataclan. The officially accepted death toll is 132, with hundreds wounded.
Emmanuel Macron announces a new meeting in Nice
In conclusion, Emmanuel Macron placed this tribute within a broader interpretation of republican resistance to terrorism. “Those who hated us did not have the last word. The terrorists of November 13th were defeated in the moment by force, but in the long run by the strength of spirit that animates those who (…) know that the cause they defend is the most just of causes, that of liberty, equality and fraternity. That of the French Republic.”, did he declare.
The president also announced that he would travel to Nice on July 14th in order to "to continue to uphold this demand for remembrance and recognition ten years later".
