July 14, 2016

At Least 84 Dead After Truck Plows Through Crowd in France During Bastille Day Celebration

In this video screen shot, ambulances and police cars arrive after a truck drove on to the sidewalk and plowed through a crowd of revelers who’d gathered to watch fireworks in the French resort city of Nice.BFMTV via AP

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


Update, July 15, 7:16 a.m. ET: Officials say at least 84 people have been killed in the attack.

Update, July 14, 7:34 p.m. ET: Christian Estrosi, president of the Nice region, said the truck was loaded with arms and grenades. “This is the worst tragedy in the history of Nice as there are regrettably already more than 70 victims,” Estrosi tweeted.

ISIS has not officially claimed responsibility for the attack, but some of the group’s supporters celebrated the carnage on Twitter.

US presidential candidate Donald Trump tweeted that he’s postponing a scheduled news conference to announce his vice presidential running mate in light of the attacks.

During tonight’s Bastille Day celebration and fireworks display in Nice, France, a truck plowed into the crowd, and some witnesses say shots were fired during the chaos.

Nice’s prosecutor’s office reports that 60 people are feared dead in the attack, and some news reports estimate as many as 100 people are injured.

France’s interior ministry confirmed that the truck’s driver is dead.

The New York Times reports that France has been on alert for terrorist activity for months. In November, 130 people died in Paris during a devastating attack that the Islamic State eventually claimed responsibility for.

A spokesman for the interior ministry said it was too early to tell if tonight’s attack was a terrorist attack. French President Francois Hollande has activated the government crisis center.

President Barack Obama has been apprised of the attack and is being updated, the White House said.

This breaking-news story is being updated as we learn more details.

WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

payment methods

WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate