Graphic images of Nice attack spark controversy

This article is more than 12 months old

Jul 14, 2017 06:00 am

PARIS: A French public prosecutor yesterday asked a court to order the removal of Paris Match's latest edition from news stands after it published graphic pictures of the Bastille day attack in Nice a year ago that killed 86 people and injured hundreds.

The magazine said the images, which show the truck ploughing through a crowd watching fireworks on the seafront Promenade des Anglais, were taken from the city's surveillance system.

Other pictures show the bloodied body of the 31-year-old Tunisian attacker in the driver's compartment, a selfie the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria loyalist took on the afternoon of the attack, and others taken at the same site over the previous 12 months.

The Paris prosecutor urged a court to take an emergency decision to halt sales of the latest edition, a judicial source told Reuters.

Those pictures "are an insult to the victims' dignity", said Mr Eric Morain, a lawyer for several victims' associations. They "create a morbid and voyeuristic atmosphere that has nothing to do with freedom of information", he added, asking judicial authorities to get the magazine off the newsstands.

Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi said the images were "unbearable and despicable". - REUTERS