Dozens of people have been killed in multiple gun attacks in Paris and a hostage-taking situation. Here are some accounts from witnesses in the city.
‘Blood everywhere’
A witness coming out of the Bataclan concert hall, where up to 60 people were taken hostage, said: “We manage to escape, there was blood everywhere.”
‘In shock’
Francois Sergent lives close to one the restaurants that was attacked and said his neighbourhood has been left stunned. He told the BBC: “Everybody is in a kind of, I would say, utter disbelief. Nobody close to me was a victim of what happened last night but the neighbourhood, the streets I am walking every day - it was quite a shock for all of us this morning.”
‘Kept shooting’
A man has described coming face to face with two of the attackers while in a bar on Friday evening. He told French TV: “We heard what we thought were firecrackers. We turned around and I saw two young people, no older than 25 with Kalashnikovs." “They asked us to lie down, one of them was doing this, so the whole room lay down. They kept shooting but stopped every now and then.”
Phone ‘took hit’
Sylvestre was at the Stade de France sports stadium when bombs went off there. He said he was saved by his mobile phone, which he was holding to his ear when it was hit by debris from the blast. “Everything was blown to bits and I felt stuff flying around,” he was quoted as saying by Reuters. “This is the cell phone that took the hit, it’s what saved me,” he said, showing the phone’s smashed screen.
‘Pretty horrific’
Ben Grant was in a bar with his wife when one of the shootings occurred. He said they saw six or seven bodies on the ground and were told shots had been fired from cars. “There are lots of dead people. It’s pretty horrific to be honest... I was at the back of the bar. I couldn’t see anything,” he said, adding: “We were held up in the bar because there was a pile of bodies in front of us.”
‘It’s war here’
An unnamed witness who was in the standing area at the Bataclan rock concert and encountered a gunman before fleeing was quoted by Liberation.
“It was a concert where the music was loud. I heard the shots, I turned around and I saw a silhouette with a cap who stood near the back door. He fired in my direction.
“People began to drop and throw themselves to the ground. I thought that the guy next to me was dead. I think this is the case.
“I ran, I jumped the barrier and left with the first wave of the crowd near the stage. I went out through the emergency exit at the opposite end of the room.
“We hid in a cafe, barricaded on the first floor. When we told people what had happened they believed us immediately. It’s war here, there were shots fired just a very short time ago.