The tribute day of October 29, 2021 began with the sound of bells. The death knell sounded in the city at 8.45 am, at the supposed time of the 1st death of this tragic day. A long afternoon of commemorations and meditation was held in the basilica where Nadine Devillers, a 60-year-old woman from Nice, Simone Barreto-Silva, a 44-year-old Franco-Brazilian mother of three children, and the sacristan Vincent Loquès, 55, father of two daughters, been killed a year ago.
A year later the relatives of the victims and many local politicians accompanied by the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin but also the faithful, in all 450 people, participated in the unveiling of a commemorative plaque in the religious building. Outside, a statue representing a dove of peace, signed by the artist from Venice, Théo Tobiasse, was inaugurated a few moments earlier. Its positioning on the forecourt, on the rue d’Italie side, is designed as an incentive for passers-by or cars to remember the victims.
– Alexandre Mottot
A few hundred people from Nice came in large numbers to gather around the basilica and support the families of the victims. “A natural gesture“that some intend to repeat each year:”as long as they celebrate it we’ll be there“assures Fiona. It must be said that the painful memory of the massacre adds for many to the trauma of the attack on the Promenade des Anglais July 14, 2016. As a result, a large number of Niçois also fail to turn the page. It should also be noted that around sixty young people from Nice came at the end of the day to drop off a bouquet on site, in peace.
A mass was celebrated by the Bishop of Nice, Msgr Marceau during which the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin spoke, insisting that “attack believers, like attacking a teacher: it’s attacking France. France is not a land where religions are opposed“also added the minister. During his speech he also distilled more political allusions at a time when Eric Zemmour openly attacks immigrants by citing two great men who came to meditate in this basilica of Nice, Romain Garry and Joseph Kessel, who “have no French blood but with whom France flows in the veins“.
The families of the victims were at the center of the celebrations. Frédérick Sanges, the vicar of the Basilica of Notre-Dame de l’Assomption explains that the parish has been supporting these families for a year and that they are particularly surrounded by the Catholic community.
The perpetrator of the terrorist knife attack, Brahim A. 22 years old, is still in prison. He was indicted for “assassinations and attempted assassinations in connection with a terrorist enterprise“. An investigation entrusted to the national anti-terrorism prosecution.