PARIS — Soccer fans of France and Germany packed the Stade de France on Friday night to watch a highly anticipated match, with fans wearing jerseys for both teams, sporting face paint and chanting. Families with children were enjoying the electric atmosphere. Flags were everywhere.

But by the end of the night, the crowd was quiet and orderly. Javier Velez, a junior political science and television, radio and film dual major at Syracuse University who was at the match, said the silence contrasted with France’s 2-0 win over the 2014 World Cup Champions.

Velez and seven other students currently studying at the SU Strasbourg Center were visiting Paris on Friday, the night a series of terrorist attacks on the city killed 129 people. At the Stade de France, suicide bombers caused three explosions and four casualties. One of the suicide bombers was reportedly denied access to the stadium by a security guard, and then blew himself up. Strasbourg is a two-hour train ride from Paris.

“I can still hear the first two explosions, and it will be hard to come to terms with the fact that at least one of these bombers had tickets for the game,” Velez said.

Velez and another student had bought their tickets later than the rest of the group, and had seats in a different section of the stadium. The groups parted ways before the game began at 9 p.m.

 

Twenty minutes after the match started, the first explosion happened just outside the stadium. Lauren Chilcott, a junior psychology and forensic science dual major, said she assumed the sounds were firecrackers or cannons that were part of the game to get the crowd excited.

“Honestly, we didn’t think anything of it,” she said. “We were just were a little confused by the sound. We didn’t jump to any conclusions.”

Chilcott said she didn’t know what was happening because they had no access to WiFi, and therefore had no direct flow of information. Her mother was able to contact her and inform her of the shootings in downtown Paris, but Chilcott said she didn’t dwell on the shootings because she was nowhere near them.

It wasn’t until the game was almost over that another student in Chilcott’s group was contacted by their father, who asked if the group was still at the soccer game. Reports were coming in of explosions at the Stade de France.

“I didn’t realize anything was wrong until I got down into the subway and all the gates were open,” Chilcott said. “You didn’t need to pay or have a ticket to get through the gate or turnstile. They wanted to get people away.”

On the opposite side, Velez was sitting with Lynsey Cooper, a junior international relations major, when the second explosion went off. By this time, Velez had grabbed his phone and started looking at Twitter to see if there was any information they could get.

 

Through social media and news reports, they learned of an explosion at a restaurant near the Stade de France, which made more sense to them as opposed to a firecracker or cannon. But then the third explosion, and second by the Stade de France, went off during halftime and Velez became glued to his phone.

“The game became irrelevant after the second explosion,” he said. “I looked up every now and then, and it just felt weird seeing flags being waved and people cheering or booing.”

The only thing on his mind, he added, was what would happen after the game was over, how far they were from their hotel and how they would get back.

Stepping out of their side of the stadium, Cooper said they saw lights making a large pathway that the crowd was meant to follow. Police officers stood nearby, and she could tell that the area wasn’t quite secure. It was amazing that there was no widespread panic, she said.

At one point, she said a swarm of people turned around and started sprinting toward the two of them. Cooper said she saw nothing but turned around and ran as fast as she could. Her biggest fear was losing Velez and being completely alone, but they managed to stick together despite the commotion.

“Since I didn’t hear anything about it later, I think it might have been a false alarm,” Cooper said. “So I don’t think I was truly in that close of danger of that. But the policemen there were very, very on edge. We got stuck on the road not knowing where to go.”

 

Cooper and Velez had difficulty finding a Metro station, but when they finally came across one, they figured out where they needed to transfer to get back to the stop near their hotel. They were standing on the platform when the next train sped by. Velez spotted the other six students through the window of one of the earlier cars.

The two started running on the platform — even though looking back they now say they shouldn’t have been running that night — to keep up with the train car that held their friends. Chilcott said it was an emotional moment for everyone when her group was reunited with Velez and Cooper.

“I don’t know who I hugged first. I just know I jumped into their arms,” Cooper said. “Looking back I now feel like that was the moment I realized it was meant for us to survive.”

Chilcott said at that point, she and the others in her group had been in contact with people at the SU Strasbourg Center, who advised that they get off the trains sooner rather than later.

Once on the empty streets, the group agreed to walk quickly, but not run. Don’t speak, but if you need to, then whisper. They zipped up jackets to hide their jerseys, threw out some of their flags and tried to cover any evidence that they were at the Stade de France that night.

They got back to their hotel and barricaded themselves in one of their rooms. After calling parents, friends and the SU Strasbourg Center, they kept the news reports playing on someone’s laptop so they could remain updated with what was going on.

“Every slammed door, every step someone took on the stairs near our room — we all woke up. For me, I don’t think I even fully woke up before my heart started pounding,” Cooper said. “I was shaking all over again.”

It was hard to sleep without closure, she added.

The next morning, the eight of them headed to the train station to try to exchange their nighttime ticket for an earlier train. There were people on the trains, but no one was talking, and the atmosphere was somber. At the station, they saw people with luggage trying to leave the city. Military officers walked around with their weapons.

The students were able to use their ticket for an earlier train and were back in Strasbourg by 1:30 p.m. on Saturday.

“I’m proud of the girls for how brave they were, despite all of us being scared,” Velez said. “We wanted (the) weekend to be about enjoying Paris since many, including myself, had never been before. Instead, it will be unforgettable for a very different reason.”

Published on November 17, 2015 at 11:18 pm

Contact Clare: clramire@syr.edu