France’s ex-president: Bastille Day attack was “terror act”

By NICOLAS VAUX-MONTAGNY and BARBARA SURK
Associated Press

PARIS (AP) — Former French President François Hollande has told a special terrorism court in Paris that the man who drove a truck into a crowded boardwalk in Nice on Bastille Day six years ago was responsible for “a terrorist act.” The attack in 2016 killed 86 people and wounded 450 others. Hollande said the perpetrator, a Tunisian man with French residency, wanted to kill as many people as possible. Holland said the attacker “declared war on us” by choosing to strike on National Day. Eight people are on trial in a special Paris terrorism court accused of helping the attacker, who was shot dead by police the night of his rampage in 2016.