10 years after massacre, Paris is still scarred by the night of terror

France has commemorated the night a decade ago that scarred and reshaped the country after gunmen and suicide bombers from the so-called Islamic State group killed 132 people and injured hundreds more in the French capital. John Leicester and Thomas Adamson of the Associated Press report

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ANNE-LAURE, Djamila, Justine, Guillaume, Nick and so many others sons, daughters, mothers and fathers slain by Islamic State group gunmen and suicide bombers in Paris were fondly remembered on Thursday as France commemorated the night of terror a decade ago that scarred and reshaped the country.

With minutes of silence and sombre readings of the 132 victims’ names, the French capital mourned the dead and innocence it lost on November 13, 2015, but also proudly recalled how Parisians came together, looked after each other and slowly but surely rebounded in the wake of the three-hour series of coordinated assaults targeting the packed Bataclan concert hall, joyful cafes and the national stadium where France's soccer team was playing.

The bloodshed was France's deadliest in peacetime - a national trauma likened to 9/11. The night hardened France's security reflexes while deepening a sense of solidarity that has endured a decade later. Many Parisians think in terms of “before” and “after”, and some still check for exits when they’re in crowded places.

“Ten years. The pain remains,” French President Emmanuel Macron posted as he led the day of memorials, laying wreaths at attack sites and recalling “the lives cut short, the wounded, the families and the loved ones”.

At the city’s Place de la Republique, Parisians gathered with candles, flowers and handwritten notes as they did in 2015, taking comfort in being together.

“It’s a wound that is open. For the last 10 years, we've been saying there was a before and an after, but what comes after?” said Paris resident Patrick Abukrat. “The threat is still there.”