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Ten Years After the Paris Attacks, France Confronts a Changed Terror Threat

A decade on, France marks the Paris attacks with a warning of a new landscape of lone, younger assailants using low-tech weapons.

Overview

  • Coordinated Islamic State assaults on the Stade de France, café terraces and the Bataclan left 130 dead and around 350 injured on 13 November 2015.
  • France’s 2021–2022 mass trial delivered convictions for 20 defendants, including a life sentence for Salah Abdeslam, giving limited legal closure to victims.
  • Emergency measures from 2015 were later written into ordinary law, expanding police powers even as jurists and rights advocates caution against overreach and stigmatization.
  • Europol and researchers say attacks now more often involve lone actors, simpler weapons and younger suspects; France opened 17 cases against minors this year and Germany is viewed as the No. 2 target after France.
  • Authorities report dozens of foiled plots—France’s DGSI counts 82 since 2015—while survivors’ groups emphasize enduring trauma and call for deeper efforts to address root causes and engage youth.