Attack in Nice, France, kills at least 80 on Bastille Day

After a truck drove into a crowd of people in Nice, France, killing at least 84, Newt Gingrich seemed to escalate Donald Trump’s calls for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States, commenting on Fox News’s Hannity Thursday that the United States should “test every person here who is of a Muslim background, and if they believe in Sharia, they should be deported.”

His comments were immediately criticized in the American media, prompting Gingrich to go on Facebook Live on Friday to clarify his statements, asserting that the news media was “trying to grossly exaggerate what I was saying” and that “this isn’t about targeting a particular religion.”

A truck drove into a crowd and killed dozens of people on a beach in Nice, France, who had gathered there to watch fireworks for the national holiday Bastille Day late Thursday night.

A total of 84 people have died, according to the French interior ministry. Among them are 10 children. About another 50 people are in critical condition, and many more have less serious injuries.

After the driver of a truck in Nice, France, drove into a crowd of people watching fireworks, killing at least 80, Newt Gingrich told Fox News’s Sean Hannity that the time had come to start testing Americans of “Muslim background” for their loyalty to the United States.

“We should frankly test every person here who is of a Muslim background, and if they believe in Sharia, they should be deported,” Gingrich said.

Hours after a truck driver drove into a crowd watching Bastille Day fireworks in Nice, France, killing at least 80 people and injuring dozens, French President François Hollande announced that the country must display “absolute determination and flawless vigilance,” saying he would call up the military’s operational reserves and extend the French state of emergency.

The “terroristic character” of the attack “cannot be denied,” Hollande said. “It is clear that we must do everything we can to fight against the scourge of terrorism.”

President Barack Obama gave his vote of confidence in the “character of the French Republic” to overcome the tragic attack in Nice, France, Thursday, after a truck drove into a crowd of Bastille Day revelers, killing more than 70 and leaving many more injured.

“On Bastille Day, we are reminded of the extraordinary resilience and democratic values that have made France an inspiration to the entire world, and we know that the character of the French Republic will endure long after this devastating and tragic loss of life,” Obama said in a statement condemning the attack.

When a truck plowed into a crowd of people celebrating Bastille Day in Nice, France, late Thursday night, killing at least 70, it destroyed what was otherwise a joyous scene: residents and tourists gathered along a popular stretch of beach to celebrate the national holiday with fireworks.

Among them was Damien Allemand, a journalist in charge of the digital service for Nice-Matin, the local newspaper group. In short, searing sentences, he wrote in a Medium post about what he saw and how a typical evening became a nightmare. Here’s part of what he witnessed, translated from the original French: