Bastille Day attack: Idyllic seaside of Nice plunged into chaos

Summer is a busy time in the idyllic French southern port city of Nice. For well over a century, the country’s C?te d’Azur – azure coast – has been the go-to destination for legions of holidaymakers, first from around the country and now from around the world.

The C?te, known in English as the French Riviera, is a stunning stretch of Mediterranean coastline, comprising Nice, capital of the Alpes Maritimes département, and a smattering of cities including St. Tropez and the glamorous Cannes, famous for its annual film festival. Just 20 kilometers down the coast, as well, is the wealthy principality of Monaco – long the destination of France’s rich and beautiful.

While it shares some of the same beauty – especially in its coastline – Nice has always had an edge that its neighbors lack. Pronounced “Neece,” it is a friendly, sunny, slightly chaotic city at the best of times.

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Related video Video shows truck driving through crowd in Nice, France

But now it is marred by a sickening terror attack, perpetrated by an as-yet unknown assailant, on Bastille Day – one of the most significant days in the French calendar, the country’s equivalent of July 4. A truck careened down the coastal Promenade des Anglais, mowing down dozens celebrating the holiday.

The road, one of Nice’s main arteries, passes the seafront Nice-C?te d’Azur airport and is the easiest route in and out of the city.

Nice witnesses: It was apparent that it was deliberate

Bastille Day – France’s July 4

On any given day, the promenade is busy. Thursday night it was packed with crowds celebrating Bastille Day. The fireworks had just ended, witnesses said, when the driver of a large truck opened fire into the packed ranks of holidaymakers, then plowed through the crowd, killing dozens.

The national holiday is one of the most important in the French calendar, commemorating the French Revolution and an event on July 14, 1789, when close to a thousand Parisians stormed the Bastille prison, a symbol of the out-of-touch, tyrannical aristocracy.

The event became a symbol of the power of the republican revolutionaries, leading to the overthrow of the Bourbon monarchy and the eventual execution of King Louis XVI and his wife, Queen Marie Antoinette, she of “Let them eat cake” fame.

France’s President Francois Hollande made the connection in a speech late Thursday, saying that the day is a “symbol of liberty.”

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry added that the attack was “against innocent people on a day that celebrates liberty, equality, and fraternity”? – the founding principles of the French Republic.

Art, cultural hub

Nice is a cultural treasure-trove and home to the Marc Chagall and Matisse museums. Chagall was French and Russian and lived his final years on the French Riviera. His works can be found throughout the city and the region. The city’s opera house, Opéra Nice C?te d’Azur, also sits on the seafront, site of Thursday’s attack.

Henri Matisse also spent a chunk of his life here and, in addition to the national museum dedicated to his works, Nice is also home to the Chapelle du Rosaire de Vence – Rosary Chapel – which was, by his own estimation, his masterpiece.

Frequent visitors to the city also once included the playwright Anton Chekhov and the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, who said of the city:

“To be sure, there can be no more beautiful season in Nice than the current one: the sky blindingly white, the sea tropical blue, and in the night a moonlight that makes the gas lanterns feel ashamed, for they flush red.”

Baby strollers are seen on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, France, on Friday, July 15. A 31-year-old native of Tunisia and resident of Nice drove into a crowd during the southern French city's Bastille Day celebrations around 10:45 p.m. on Thursday, July 14, killing at least 84 people and leaving around 202 injured.

A woman cries, asking for her son, as she walks near the scene of the attack.

A forensics team inspects the scene of the attack.

A man looks at the scene of the attack on the Promenade des Anglais.

Forensics investigators examine a truck at the scene of the attack.

Bodies of victims covered by sheets remained at the scene of the attack early Friday.

A man sits next to the body of a victim following the attack.

Authorities confirmed that the driver of the truck was killed by police.

The truck plowed into a crowd leaving a Bastille Day fireworks display in the French resort city of Nice. One witness, an American who was about 15 feet from the truck, said the driver accelerated and pointed his tractor-trailer into the crowd, mowing people over.

A man lies near a covered body at the scene of the attack on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice.

Emergency teams assist wounded people at the scene.

A photo from the Twitter account of a reporter for CNN affiliate France 2 shows witnesses being interviewed inside the Hotel Negresco after the attack. According to Alban Mikoczy, these people are not injured.

Wounded people are evacuated from the scene where the truck drove into the crowd during the Bastille Day celebrations.

Armed French police move people away from the Promenade des Anglais in Nice in the aftermath of Thursday's attack.

Medical workers attend to an injured woman.

Police security forces deployed in the center of Nice.

Tony Molina, a U.S. police officer on vacation in Nice, witnessed the terrible scene from his hotel room. He told CNN he thought he heard between 30 and 40 gunshots. "I saw the truck right below us and it had already driven down the boardwalk for a half a mile."

BFM-TV, a CNN affiliate in France, reported that police shot at the truck to try to stop it.

Rescue workers move a victim from the scene.

Soldiers, police officers and firefighters walk among bodies covered with blue sheets on the seafront Promenade des Anglais.

Police seal off the area around the scene. A witness said at first it seemed like an accident, but then it became obvious it was a deliberate act.

"I wasn't sure what to do, in that situation. No one knew what was going on. We just knew we had to run for our lives," said Paul Delane, an American who witnessed the attack.

French President Fran?ois Hollande said the country would now extend its state of emergency for three months.

A doll is seen at the scene of the attack on the Promenade des Anglais.

Bastille Day terror: Harrowing images of truck attack in Nice

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Police officers and rescued workers stand near a van that ploughed into a crowd leaving a fireworks display in the French Riviera town of Nice on July 14, 2016.

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More recently, Nice was one of the host cities for the Euro 2016 soccer tournament. A fan zone was established near the Promenade des Anglais, in the Jardin Albert 1er, a large park across the road from the pebbly beach that stretches the length of the city.

On match days, fans would pack in to the venue to watch games on the big screens. As is common in France – and beyond – these days, it was heavily policed, with metal detectors, bag searches and mandatory pat-downs.

As with the Paris attacks in November of last year, and with the Charlie Hebdo killings18 months ago, this attack on the French way of life will leave a psychological scar on France and especially this unique, vibrant southern city. But it, and France, will prevail.

“France is afflicted but she is strong,” Hollande added. “She will always be stronger, I assure you, she will always be stronger than the fanatics who wanted to strike her today.”