'A race against time’: Former minister on political climate around Paris attacks

A woman lights a candle at a makeshift memorial to the victims of the Paris attacks of 13 November 2015, at Place de la République, Paris, on 8 November 2025. © AFP - GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT

As France marks 10 years since the Paris attacks that killed 130 people and wounded more than 400, Bernard Cazeneuve, France’s interior minister at the time, spoke to RFI about the political landscape before and after the night that changed Paris.

The day began in Paris with a security exercise. "In the morning, an exercise [had been] organised involving the security forces, in case of a mass killing in Paris," recalls Cazeneuve of 13 November 2015.