France marks 10th anniversary of Bataclan attacks as calls grow to compensate emergency workers

More than 130 people were killed in co-ordinated attacks in Paris centred around theatre

The Eiffel Tower illuminated in the colours of the French flag in tribute to the victims of the terrorist attacks of November 13, 2015, at Trocadero in Paris. Getty Images

France on Thursday marked the 10th anniversary of the ISIS Bataclan attacks as calls grew for emergency workers caught up in the atrocity to receive compensation.

French judges have, in most cases, refused to grant victim status to firefighters, police officers, paramedics or passers-by who helped people during the terror attacks in Paris, according to support group Galea. The status opens the door to state compensation.

Luc Demompion was a volunteer first aider on the evening that armed gunmen opened fire near the Stade de France and at restaurants in the east of the capital, killing 132 people.

All night, he triaged victims in the 11th arrondissement's city hall, before supporting their families for four days. He described being left with “feelings of failure, powerlessness, guilt”.

Mr Demompion is a member of Galea, a support group that was created in 2015 but also includes first aiders who intervened in other attacks, including the July 2016 in the southern city of Nice. It has about 50 members.

Galea said first aiders suffered “post-traumatic stress” and “invisible wounds”, French media reported before the commemorations.

“We readily present them as ambassadors of courage in the face of barbarity, but 10 years after the wave of attacks for which we needed their strength, we still too often tell them that … they were just doing their job,” the support group says.

The only surviving Paris attacker, Salah Abdeslam, is held at Vendin-le-Vieil prison in northern France. AFP

On the anniversary, politicians reflected on lessons learnt from the attacks. The Eiffel Tower was illuminated with the colours of the French national flag on Wednesday to honour the victims.

The church bells at Notre Dame and other Paris churches were scheduled to ring on Thursday evening to signal the beginning of the official commemoration ceremony attended by President Emmanuel Macron at a memorial garden in the city centre.

'Painful but necessary'

A Terrorism Memorial Museum, due to open in 2029, is expected to house around 500 objects linked to the attacks or the victims, most of them donated by the bereaved families.

Francois Hollande, who was president in 2015, said that his five-year term was “marked by terrorist attacks”, in the same manner that “each generation is marked by a crisis, an ordeal, a major event”.

He described commemoration ceremonies as “painful but necessary”. In a live chat with readers of daily newspaper Le Monde, he said: “But they must also serve an educational purpose for a country. What has made us stronger? What troubles us today? How can we maintain trust in institutions, law enforcement, and community life? From this perspective, a ceremony is a political act aimed at [maintaining] unity and harmony.”

Mr Hollande was in the crowd at the Stade de France for a France vs Germany match when the attacks erupted. He was whisked out of the audience before reappearing on national television later that night, describing what had happened as a “horror”.

On Thursday, there will be heavy security deployed around the stadium as it hosts a France vs Ukraine football match, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said.

Mr Nunez warned that the terror threat in France remains high. Six attacks were thwarted in 2025, he said. “Zero risk does not exist; those who say otherwise are lying,” he told BFMTV.

This week, the ex-girlfriend of the only surviving 2015 attacker, Salah Abdeslam, 36, was charged with two other people with allegedly planning a terror attack on French soil.

Flowers are laid in front of the Bataclan concert hall as Paris marks the 10th anniversary of terrorist attacks that killed 132 people. AP