‘Hate memorial’ sees mourners spit on place where killer lorry driver died

Mourners in Nice have built an anti-shrine on the site where the lorry killer was shot dead by police, moments after massacring 84 people. Passers-by are stopping to spit on the pile of stones and rubbish which has built up in the spot where Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel’s deadly rampage was brought to an end. Among the cigarette butts and plastic bottles, one person has scrawled the word “coward!” Another has place an image of a middle finger, with the words “F*** Daesh” written across it, the Arabic name for the Islamic State group which has claimed responsibility for the attack.

The first sign that Bouhlel was planning something violent came about eight months ago, when he snapped a picture of a news story headlined: 'Man deliberately rams car into cafe terrace.’

Paris prosecutor Francois Molins

The makeshift anti-shrine lies just a metres from the spot where flowers, candles, teddy bears and messages have been placed for the dozens of people run over by Bouhlel as he careered through a crowd on Nice’s Promenade des Anglais on Thursday. Paris prosecutor Francois Molins, who oversees terrorism investigations in France, said people interviewed by police described the Tunisian father of three as “someone who did not practice the Muslim religion, ate pork, drank alcohol, took drugs and had an unbridled sexual activity.” Mr Molins told reporters, however, that signs of a “clear, recent interest in the radical jihadist movement” had emerged, leaving no doubt the attack was “premeditated”.

rubbish Nice