User blog:FrenchTouch/What Happened in Nice, Yesterday?

Holler folk, I'm FrenchTouch, and as some of you may know, I'm a resident of Nice, and I have seen, not on TV, not on the Internet, but live, the mass homicide that's happened on July 14, our National Day. I want to make this blog post not in memory of the victims, because there's nothing we can do about them other than respect the losses, and because of the obviousness of it. I want to make this blog post to clarify stuff, because if you know me well, you know I hate misinformation. I hate that our history can be made up of lies, and that even the most simple of lies can become an accepted historical theory&mdash;so I want to give you folk the real information about what's happened yesterday - I have seen the repercussions on Place Masséna, and a friend of mine saw the attack on the Promenade des Anglais, plus I have relations with some forces of authority that help have more info. I know I'm not gonna make a lot of friends, that it's uncalled for, and Wikia doesn't need that, but I prefer to prevent than to heal. So here's the story with verified information only, which means there's a lot of holes.

So it starts near the hospital Lenval, some dude with a truck filled with weapons and grenades (we don't know if they are real or not, they're probably fake, you'll see later) just goes all-in, at full speed, taking up the sidewalk, voluntarily, of course, and apparently, yes, this one fact is speculated but it's very important, police forces shot the truck, well, tried to, but it's launched at full speed, so nothing passes, but people have heard the gunshots, they understand what shit is going on - they're still shaking from Paris and Brussels, and it's in their city now. So they run as most as possible on the Promenade des Anglais, and this is where the massacre starts - as the truck took the sidewalk, people are getting crushed, flying away like vulgar little shits and excuse my vocabulary but that's the best way I can phrase it - the truck probably crashed somewhere, we don't know, maybe the driver shot the masses, we don't know, I don't wanna say anything on the matter, but the thing is some people keep running and running, alerting the Negresco, (5-star hotel 2km away) and the panic starts there - but they don't stop running, they keep taking the Promenade, as seen by my friend - by the way, if this every happens to you, separate from the groups and take intricate routes, going in a straight line is the best way to get killed, because if the killer was prepared like they were in Paris, There would definitely be more than 200 dead -- anyway, they keep running, and that's where my vision starts: There was a concert on the Place Masséna, with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Nice, very beautiful, with one of the best Marseillaises I've heard, with important political figures too. Most of them took off very hastily at the end of the concert though, so no way to talk to them, but fireworks start going off, I leave the place and go to a nearby restaurant on the Cours Saléya, it was completely filled, and, as we sit down, we saw a wave of people, screaming and running, straight into a corridor - another error, if there was an armed man in this corridor, no one would have left, do not do that - And the masses' effect took off and in the span of a few seconds, the place went empty. Not even birds were there. But there was nothing, no gunshots.

This is where we start seeing intervention forces, and trust me, raid forces or not, when they have an automatic rifle, what you do is you stay hid, which we've done, we've helped people go in the restaurant, we closed the restaurants and blinds, calmed folk down - military training helps to control oneself in such situations, but simulations are nowhere near reality - so, we let them do the clearing out, no gunshots, no nothing, people were obedient, and didn't panic all that much. A few hours after, when everyone's done being harassed by relatives who are worried, of course, everyone gets evacuated, everything in the perimeter of the attacks was closed, and the suspect was considered apprehended, so that's where the story ends.

I would appreciate if there would not be straight up assumptions about that suspect - people are already getting a lot of discrimination for their culture, religion, nationality, and skin color, and having known all of these four, I don't want it to keep happening, so stay solidary of each other, be cool to each other, because you may be watching your nth FOX News report about how Muslims are evil, (which obviously is a completely discriminatory assumption) but you'll be happy when one of them catches a bullet for you, one day.

Another thing I'd appreciate is none of these hashtags and stuff, please. That's kinda personal, but I'm sure a lot of people feel me there. Those #PrayforNice #PrayforBrussels #Prayforwhatever things have hurt more than they've helped. Please, we're talking about one of the most murderous events since World War II, not a simple marketing coup. A logo also isn't gonna bring anyone back as much as that'd be nice. (ha, Nice, jokes) Oh, and I'd like the “never forget” thing to actually matter, because it's also because we forget that events like that keep making more dead. We shouldn't stop living our lives and going out, but being cautious prevents a lot.

Now we'll get into, less accomodating things. If it wasn't for my sources, I would call that conspiracy theories.

You may not know, but France entered a state of maximum security and urgency since Paris, which did nothing but tire, sicken cops and the military, and it's rule 1 of a nation: Keep the army happy. Except they're not. Ten thousand people are mobilized, and they have to stand here, and occasionnally get their arses handed to them for no reason other than being a political pawn, because they love their country, but not their government. And with this attack, it will last 3 months more. So, to anyone in a large city in France right now - just be a little more vigilant in the next 3 months, just my intuition.

Also, attacking the most touristic city in France (after Paris) during the most touristic day? The people we generally associate with these attacks aren't capable of being so rigourous in the date and place, yet being so unorganized. Here's something I learned from a quite important man, let's say: Months before November 13 in Paris, there was a force perimeter organized around the zones where the attacks happened, and same thing before July 14 in Nice. The common point is that, the forces only did anything after it was basically over. Now, here's another thing I have learned from someone who, I kid you not, actually was part of the forces around the Bataclan. Whilst everything went down, those forces had to wait. Hear me, they had to wait because they are obligated to. Those were their orders, to stay at their posts until they get more instructions, and that's it. Again, it sounds so crazy that one of the most powerful governments of the world just allows that to happen out of neglection, yet, it's actually the truth! I swear this is out of like a conspiracy theory thing, but it's real! That's just incredible, really. It's not the forces' fault at all, because their morale took a big shock because of having to wait. They wanted to help, they wanted to save lives; their orders were to wait. This is only adding to even more stress put on the police and the army, and if these guys aren't happy, it's not gonna be a small deal.

I'm saying that because I don't want you folk to panic, if that ever happens to you - Unless you're really prepared for that, you don't know how you will react, and hopefully, nobody whom I was with saw blood spilled, because the panic of these people would have been much harder to contain, but I would like you people to be strong - we don't need white knights in shining armor, we're France, we're gonna survive that and much more, we're the fifth most powerful country in the world, you know, but we need people that are, well, kind to each other, who will help each other, because not every restaurant had their groups to calm others down. No news outlet said anything that wasn't made to terrorize people. But what hurt the group I was with the most was not the fear or anything, but the confusion from all the misinformation. One outlet said there were hostages in a restaurant, one outlet said it was just a truck accident, (except it was the killer blazing through folks at lightspeed) one outlet said there was a shooting inside the Negresco, and so on, and so forth.

So what I mean is, don't panic. People have died, respect them, show support to others by being kind, asking if they're alright, but not going too far, just be, well be yourself! And don't be too worried about it happening to you, just have some common sense, reflect a bit on the info I've given you, try to interpret it, understand it, or do whatever you want, but all in all, it's okay. Around 90 people died, but the good side is there could have been many more, and it didn't happen.

So excuse my poor wording, but I have trouble really expressing my message, because it's a little all over the place, but I mean, it's hard to try to show more legitimacy than news outlets, but I'll leave it at that, so may you have a good day, and be cool.

I'm very open with dialogue, but I will straight up dismiss anything that's just jumping to conclusions like our beloved outlets do, and I will not put effort into answering people who are too emotionally driven by the instance. If you are not hardened enough for it, sorry for ruining your day, first off, but just empty your head, get off Wikia for a day or so, take some time, your life is still the same. G'day again, mates.

UPDATE: The truck was a rent, and yes, the weapons in it were all fake, so the panic was caused by the police that aimed for the driver instead of the wheels.