Stade de France explosions
Three explosions occurred near the country's national sports stadium, the
Stade de France, in the suburb of Saint-Denis, resulting in four deaths, including the three suicide bombers.
[59] The explosions happened at 21:16, 21:19,
[note 1] and 21:53.
[60] The first explosion near the stadium was about 20 minutes after the start of an international friendly football match between
France and
Germany, which President Hollande was attending.
[61][62] The first bomber was prevented from entering the stadium after a security guard patted him down and discovered the suicide vest;
[63] a few seconds after being turned away, he detonated the vest, killing himself and a bystander.
[64] Investigators later surmised that the first suicide bomber had planned to detonate his vest within the stadium, triggering the crowd's panicked exit onto the streets where two other bombers were lying in wait.
[65] Ten minutes after the first bombing, the second bomber blew himself up near the stadium.
[note 1] Another 23 minutes after that, the third bomber's vest detonated nearby; according to some reports, that location was at a
McDonald's restaurant;
[63][66] others state that the bomb detonated some distance away from any discernible target.
[67]
Hollande was evacuated from the stadium at half-time, while the German foreign minister,
Frank-Walter Steinmeier, remained at the stadium.
[68][69]Hollande met with his interior minister
Bernard Cazeneuve to co-ordinate a response to the emergency.
[70] Two of the explosions were heard on the live televised broadcast of the match;
[note 1] both football coaches were informed by French officials of a developing crisis, but players and fans were kept unaware of it until the game had finished.
[71] Hollande, concerned that the safety of the crowd outside the stadium could not be assured if the match was immediately cancelled, decided that the game should continue without a public announcement.
[65]
Following the game, fans were brought onto the pitch to await evacuation as police monitored all the exits around the venue. Security sources said all three explosions were
suicide bombings.
[17] The German national football team was advised not to return to their hotel, where there had been a bomb threat earlier in the day, and they spent the night in the stadium on mattresses, along with the French team, who stayed with them in a display of camaraderie.
[72]
...
Boulevard Voltaire bombing
At about 21:40, on the boulevard Voltaire in the 11th arrondissement, near the
place de la Nation,
[17] a man sat down in the Comptoir Voltaire café and placed an order before detonating his suicide vest, killing himself and injuring fifteen people, one of them seriously.
[78][79]
