2015 Paris Terrorist Attacks
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Overview
2015 Paris Terrorist Attacks were a series of coordinated mass shootings and suicide bombings that took place at multiple locations across the Paris Metropolitan Area in France on the evening of November 13th, 2015. As a result of the attacks, at least 129 people have been confirmed as victims of casualties and 415 others who sustained injuries of varying degrees were admitted to hospitals in the area. Immediately after the attacks, which were the deadliest in France since World War II, the French government declared a state of emergency. On November 14th, the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the acts of terrorism in retaliation against the ongoing airstrikes in the group's strongholds in Iraq and Syria.
Background
On the evening of November 13th, 2015, beginning at 9:16 p.m. local time (CET), a series of deadly explosions and shootings occurred at multiple locations in downtown Paris, France, including a restaurant and a bar in the 10th administrative district, a theater in the 11th administrative district and a bar near the French national stadium (Stade de France) in the suburb of Saint-Denis (shown below). The attacks in the heart of downtown Paris marked the third and deadliest major terrorist incident to occur on the French territories in 2015, the other two being the *Charlie Hebdo Shooting and Île-de-France attacks, both of which took place in January 2015. At least 129 people have been reportedly killed and more than 400 injured from at least six shootings and six explosions across the city.
Developments
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Official Responses
The French President Francois Hollande called the attacks an "act of war"[6] and stated that France "will act by all means anywhere, inside or outside the country" against the "Islamic State group".[7]
Investigation
Early estimates from the French authorities claimed a total of eight attackers working in three teams.[8]
Online Reaction
Hashtags
Following the breaking news of the attacks in Paris, millions of users on Twitter immediately began expressing their condolences to the victims and their families using a variety of hashtags in a display of solidarity with the Parisians, including #PrayForParis, #ParisJetaime and #JeSuisParis (a spinoff hashtag derived from #JeSuisCharlie which trended during the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attacks), all of which soon began trending worldwide on the microblogging site.
Avatars
Facebook introduced the ability to create a profile picture overlaid with the blue, white, and red stripes of the French flag, while Uber changed their car icons to the same colors. Facebook does not publish statistics of how many users changed their profile picture to the striped version; however, their original post discussing the ability received more than 300,000 likes, and anyone who looked at a profile picture that had been changed was prompted to change their own. Meanwhile, some Facebook users and columnists began expressing criticism towards the sudden influx of French-themed tributes in the social media, as there were no similar outbursts of support for Lebanon which had suffered a similar terrorist attack only a day prior to the attacks in Paris.
Anonymous #OpParis
On November 14th, 2015, Anonymous uploaded a video message[15] declaring a war against ISIS in response to the latter's attacks in Paris from the previous week that left more than 129 people dead and several hundreds more injured. In the video, a French-speaking representative of the hacktivist group addressed the members of Islamic State its intention to "hunt them down" by launching another massive cyber attacks against its websites and social media accounts (shown below in French and English).
“You should know that we will find you and we will not let you go."
“Expect massive cyber attacks. War is declared. Get prepared."
“The French people are stronger than you and will come out of this atrocity even stronger.”
Under the banner #OpParis, the latest wave of Anonymous' efforts against the Islamic State was also jointly announced by @GroupAnon[14], one of the main social media outlets of the group, as well as the newly-created ad-hoc Twitter account @OpParis.[13] In the following days, thousands of pro-ISIS Twitter accounts were allegedly taken down by Anonymous hackers.
On November 16th, members of the ISIS issued a response[17] to the hacktivist group's warning of cyber attacks via its channel "Elite Section of IS" on the messaging app Telegram, the same platform that the former group used to claim responsibility for the terror attacks in Paris (shown below).
"O' brothers of tawheed This message have reach to All Ansar for the importance. The Anonymous hackers threatened in a new video release that they will carry out a major hack operation on the Islamic state (idiots) what they gonna hack all what they can do is hacking Alansar twitter accounts, emails .etc. [sic]"
As of November 17th, @OpParis[18] claims that over 5,500 accounts associated with the Islamic State had been taken down as a result of the campaign.
Search Interest
External References
[1] Wikipedia – November 2015 Paris Attacks
[2] Twitter – Hashtag Results for #PorteOuverte
[3] BBC – Paris attacks live updates
[4] Twitter – Hashtag Results for #ParisAttacks
[5] New York Times – Paris Attacks Kill Dozens in Night of Deadly Terror
[6] USA Today – Francois Hollande: Paris attacks were ISIL 'act of war'
[7] Belfast Telegraph – France will strike back, vows President Francois Hollande
[8] NBC News – Paris Attacks: ISIS Claims Responsibility, France Vows 'Merciless' Response
[9] Verdens Gang – These are the victims of Paris-terror
[10] Facebook – Facebook Safety Check
[11] Google Trends – Paris Attacks
[12] The Atlantic – The Empathy Gap Between Paris and Beirut
[13] New York Times – ISIS Claims Responsibility, Calling Paris Attacks ‘First of the Storm’
[14] New York Times – ISIS Claims Responsibility for Blasts That Killed Dozens in Beirut
[15] Forbes – How Paris ISIS Terrorists May Have Used PlayStation 4 To Discuss And Plan Attacks [Updated]
[16] Kotaku – Reporting Error Leads To Speculation That Terrorists Used PS4s To Plan Paris Attacks
[17] TIME – Anonymous Launches ‘Biggest Operation’ Against ISIS in Response to Paris Attacks
[18] International Business Times – Paris Attacks Prompt Online Hoax: Sikh Man Photoshopped To Look Like Bomber
[19] Bustle – 5 Paris Attack Hoaxes & Conspiracy Theories That Need To Be Shut Down ASAP
[20] Twitter – Sikh Coalition's Tweet
[21] NBC News – Misinformation Spreads on Social Media Following Paris Attacks
[22] BuzzFeed – Social Media Rumours About The Paris Attacks That You Shouldn’t Believe
[23] BBC – Social media response to Paris attacks sparks online debate
[24] TIME – Celebrities Take to Social Media in Wake of Paris Attacks
[25] CNN – Terror in Paris: Social media reacts
[26] New York Times – As Paris Terror Attacks Unfolded, Social Media Tools Offered Help in Crisis
[27] DailyMail – ISIS supporters shared images of the Eiffel Tower and weapons on social media 72 hours before Paris attack… and urged ‘God bless you on your mission’
Top Comments
Max Power
Nov 13, 2015 at 08:01PM EST
Captain Alliance
Nov 14, 2015 at 02:38PM EST