“We had to choose between who was going to live or die”: at the November 13 trial, the story of the evacuation of the wounded from the Bataclan – archyde

Five weeks ago, the trial of the November 13 attacks devoted a day to story of the first policemen to have intervened in the Bataclan and to have opened fire there. A officer of the Paris night anti-crime brigade (BAC75N), Commissioner C., had told how he killed one of the three terrorists on the scene, ten minutes after the start of the killing, at 9:57 p.m. The boss of the search and intervention brigade (BRI) then detailed the assault launched by its men against the last two attackers entrenched upstairs with eleven hostages, more than two hours later, at 12:18 a.m.

Between these two sequences, inscribed for several years in the media narrative, there were two hours left unspoken and questions about the action of the police. This collective memory gap was partly filled on Wednesday 27 and Thursday 28 October, thanks to the depositions of three police officers from the BAC75N, who entered the concert hall at 10:30 p.m. with a dozen colleagues, and to the testimonies of the doctors of the BRI and the RAID which joined them there. All these men will spend the evening evacuating the wounded, under the permanent threat of the two terrorists entrenched upstairs, until the final assault.

Gray suit, short hair and military phrasing which will soon no longer suffice to contain his emotion, the peacekeeper Michel recounts the total improvisation in which the “first responders” acted that night. Alerted by radio of attacks in progress in Paris, he picked up with some colleagues from the BAC75N what was left of heavy equipment in the locker room and hurriedly left his base. The police arrived in front of the Bataclan around 10:05 p.m. and formed a column 180 meters from the building, from which shots rang out: “We lack a lot of equipment: we have two helmets for four and not enough bulletproof vests. “

“We did not obey orders”

A “Authority” asks them not to approach the room and wait for specialized units, such as the BRI. “The doctrine at the time was to set up a security perimeter, explains Michel. That day, we did not obey orders. ” Entered the Bataclan ten minutes earlier, their ” boss “, Commissioner C., has just killed a terrorist and calls for reinforcements over the radio waves. The column of the BAC75N progresses slowly through “Bonds”, between the cars parked on the road, up to the entrance to the hall. They are about fifteen.

Commissioner C. warns his men: “It shoots inside, it’s carnage. We don’t know how many there are, but they kill everyone. We have to go. Those who do not feel it, I will not hold it against them. ” The whole column follows him. Michel sends an SMS to his wife: ” I love you. “ It is 10:30 pm The police enter the room.

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