The portraits of the three people killed on Thursday were exhibited at the entrance to the basilica -

O. Huitel / Diocese of Nice

  • An attack killed three people Thursday in the Notre-Dame basilica in Nice.

  • A “repair” ceremony was organized in the religious building three days after the knife attack.

On the once again lit facades of the basilica, a Brazilian flag recalls the origin of Simone Barreto Silva, one of the three victims of the knife attack perpetrated Thursday in the most emblematic religious building in Nice.

The walls of the basilica, where a Brazilian flag was hung, were again lit up on Sunday evening - M. Bernouin / ANP / 20 Minutes

Sunday evening, the portrait of this forty-something, like those of Nadine Devillers and Vincent Loques, the sacristan, also killed, was displayed edged in black at the entrance of Notre-Dame de l'Assomption, where 150 people attended, under high security, at a “repair” mass.

The LR mayor of Nice Christian Estrosi and the prefect of the Alpes-Maritimes Bernard Gonzalez were notably present alongside the families of the three victims.

"The vocation of this place" marred

"The abomination of the terrorist act has tainted the destination and the vocation of this place", launched the bishop of Nice, Mgr André Marceau, at the entrance of the basilica.

This place "has been desecrated through these three stolen lives in the name of a false face of God or of perverse, toxic and deadly ideology," he denounced.

Behind the white walls, the lights had been lowered, the liturgical ornaments removed.

They could not shine again until after a precise rite.

Holy water was sprinkled on the walls of the building as at the time "of the construction of the basilica", recalled the bishop of the diocese of Nice.

Behind barriers, 150 people were also gathered to follow the mass from a distance - M. Bernouin / ANP / 20 Minutes

Three days after the shock, a new security perimeter had been demarcated around Notre-Dame, access to which had been reserved.

Behind barriers, positioned beyond the tram trains, 150 other people had also gathered to follow the office from a distance.

Sometimes singing liturgical songs together.

"Jesus always says that you have to love your enemies but I cannot love someone who has killed believers, it is difficult to forgive, even as a Christian", confided Leo, coming out of an organized mass at another church earlier today.

The portraits of the three people killed on Thursday were exhibited at the entrance to the basilica - O. Huitel / Diocese of Nice

Sunday evening, three people were still heard in police custody in the investigation of this attack described as an "Islamist terrorist" attack by the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron.

Three others were released Sunday afternoon, according to

Nice-Matin

.

The alleged perpetrator of the fatal stab wounds, a 21-year-old Tunisian man seriously injured during his arrest, is still in hospital.

Our file on the Nice attack

Brahim Issaoui had "obviously" come to France "to kill", declared the Minister of the Interior Gerald Darmanin.

Arrived in Nice on Tuesday, he was spotted by CCTV cameras near the basilica the day before the incident.

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