Terrorism in France refers to the terrorist attacks that have targeted the country and its population during the 20th and 21st centuries. Terrorism, in this case is much related to the country's history, international affairs and political approach. Legislation has been set up by lawmakers to fight terrorism in France. CBC News reported in December 2018 that the number of people killed in terrorist attacks in France since 2015 was 249, with the number of wounded at 928.
Year
Number of incidents
Deaths
Injuries
2020
5
3
9
2019
3
4
16
2018
3
10
30
2017
9
3
16
2016
26
95
470
2015
36
162
443
2014
14
1
15
2013
12
0
5
2012
65
8
8
2011
8
0
4
2010
3
0
0
2009
9
0
11
2008
13
0
1
2007
16
3
8
2006
34
1
3
2005
33
0
11
2004
11
0
10
2003
34
0
21
2002
32
0
4
2001
21
0
16
2000
28
4
1
1999
46
0
2
1998
12
1
0
1997
130
0
4
1996
270
18
114
1995
71
19
177
1994
97
7
22
1993
12
0
0
1992
126
9
12
1991
137
6
5
1990
30
3
3
1989
25
3
2
1988
54
6
19
1987
87
5
8
1986
95
25
306
1985
106
17
83
1984
145
15
57
1983
121
20
186
1982
62
17
144
1981
66
8
78
1980
94
20
74
1979
212
11
41
1978
59
21
17
1977
53
3
7
1976
58
7
10
1975
39
3
25
1974
29
3
41
1973
14
5
20
1972
9
1
0
1971
0
0
0
1970
0
0
0
Total
2,654
547
2,559
Terrorism in (or involving) France
List of significant terrorist incidents inside France
List of international terrorist incidents with significant French casualties
In 2015, a 26-year-old Moroccan man known as a member of the radical Islamist movement attempted to open fire with an AK47assault rifle while on a high speed train one hour from Paris. He was quickly subdued by three United States servicemen who were on holiday. See: 2015 Thalys train attack Towards the end of March 2016, police arrested a Paris citizen named Reda Kriket, and upon searching his apartment, they discovered five assault rifles, a number of handguns, and an amount of chemical substances that could be used to make explosives. Kriket was convicted by a Belgian court in a 2015 case involving Abdelhamid Abaaoud.
Under French law, any grave act of violence committed with intent "to seriously disturb public order through intimidation or terror", is an act of terrorism; the public prosecutor decides which cases will be investigated as acts of terrorism. Writing in Le Figaro attorney Gilles-William Goldnadel characterized the public prosecutor's decision not to investigate a crime, Murder of Sarah Halimi as terrorism, as "purely and simply ideological", asserting that the killer, who recited verses form the Quran before breaking into an apartment and murdering a Jewish woman, "had the profile of a radical Islamist, and yet somehow there is a resistance to call a spade a spade". Sarah Halimi's murder was heard by neighbors in her building and in neighboring building over an extended period of time. Neighbors also saw the killer throw his victim from the balcony of her home, and heard the killer praying aloud after the murder. In September, 2017, the prosecutor officially characterized the murder as an "antisemitic" hate-crime crime. According to Jean-Charles Brisard, director of the French think tank Center for the Analysis of Terrorism, "It needs to have a certain degree of willingness to disrupt the French public order."
