THE French people had believed the terror threat hanging over the country had passed after the successful conclusion of the European Championships, a Scots-based academic has said.
Speaking from near Montpellier in southern France, Professor Laurence Grove said there had been warnings of potential attacks in recent days but nothing beyond general advice on vigilance.
The Glasgow University Professor of French Studies also said the lay out and sheer numbers attracted to the Nice promenade on Bastille Day made it "almost impossible to control".
Professor Grove said: "I know Nice very well and what a happy occasion Bastille Day normally is. I've family who live on the coast and Glasgow University has an exchange partner in Nice.
"But we're also getting to know incidents like Thursday's and Paris. You don't get any more symbolic than July 14th. People migrate to the Côte d’Azur from Paris. For the summer its the French capital and because of the nature of Nice and the length of the promenade it's almost impossible to control.
"Where I am there's no noticeable increase in security, but at the beach, in the town, people who are on holiday are very subdued.
"It takes over. You overhear some of the usual knee jerk unintelligent conversations in the street about foreigners or Arabs.
"The question of terrorism was hanging over the Euros and people avoid many of the fan zones for that reason. By the end of the tournament they were crowded and people had forgotten. Amongst the general public coming into Bastille Day terrorism had been overlooked.
"There had been items on the French news of intelligence that something was likely. But it was general and gave no suggestion of such an attack.
Previous attacks have been with machine guns but the use of a lorry is so low-tech.
"There have been some updates that this was just someone with a grudge against society, that there might not have been a political or religious element and some of the conversations are being conflated with issues of national identity.
"How do we react to this? You can't help but feel scared. But thoughts turn to how Northern Ireland coped. We will have concerns about safety but there's not much we can do short of locking ourselves away.
"Like most people, I'll avoid big crowds. The big fireworks display planned for Marseilles has been cancelled, as have similar events across the south of France."
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