'Murderer!' Mourners boo French PM Manuel Valls over his failure to prevent terror attacks as thousands - and a Premier League football star - pack Nice promenade to remember the dead
Thousands of people came out today to pay their respect to the 84 people killed in the Nice attacks Thursday night
Large sections of crowd voiced their anger by booing the Prime Minister Manuel Valls as he arrived at the scene
His government has faced criticism for not doing enough to prevent terror in the last 18 months after Paris attacks
Talking last month, he said, 'more innocents will lose their lives' and revealed 13 terror plots had been scuppered
Crowds called for his resignation, but he dismissed them as 'disgraceful' and reflected the 'attitude of a minority'
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls was booed and called a murderer by angry crowds today as he visited Nice in the aftermath of the terror attacks that claimed 84 lives.
As Mr Valls made his way to the scene where Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel mowed down scores watching fireworks on the promenade during the Bastille Day celebrations on Thursday night, some of the crowd voiced their anger over the French government's failure to protect its citizens in the wake of the latest terror attack.
He was jeered by large portions of the thousands of people who had turned up to pay their respects in the coastal city, but Valls dismissed the calls for him to resign as 'disgraceful', saying they reflected the 'attitude of a minority' in the city run by the opposition Republicans party.
The French Prime Minister (pictured, centre right) alongside his health minister Marisol Touraine (centre left) after the minutes silence
A sea of people thronged the seafront promenade in Nice where the attack took place for an emotional minute's silence. Similar ceremonies were held across the country, accompanied by the ringing of church bells.
Valls and his government has been criticised over the last 18 months for not doing enough to stop terror attacks in the country, following the Charlie Hebdo attacks in which 12 people were slaughtered last January and the Paris massacre in November where terrorists killed 130 people, including 89 inside the Bataclan theatre.
He was booed as he arrived and as he left the service.
Talking last month the French Prime Minister insisted the country is doing all it can to foil terror plots but admitted 'more innocents will lose their lives'.
He said the intelligence and police services had stopped 15 attacks since 2013 and were waging a non-stop battle to track down and prevent terrorists.
Speaking on French Inter radio, Mr Valls said before the Euros: 'We need to tighten the net and give police and intelligence services all the means they need, but we will witness further attacks. More innocents will lose their lives.'
Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said Monday that the truck attack that killed 84 in the Riviera city of Nice was 'of a premeditated nature.'
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Investigations have shown that Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel staked out the Promenade des Anglais on several occasions, taking selfies there throughout the day of the attack, and had reserved the rented truck on July 4 - asking for the biggest one the company had.
He came away with the 19-tonne vehicle he would use as a mass murder weapon against revellers in the coastal city.
In relation to his allegiance to Islamic State, who claimed responsibility for the attack, he added: 'If there are no elements in the investigation to suggest at this stage an allegiance to Islamic State nor links with individuals from the group.
'He (Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel) showed a certain recent interest for radical jihadist movements.'
He added the murderer had a 'clear, recent interest in the radical jihadist movement'.
Investigations showed the Tunisian had searched on the internet for information on a terror attack in Orlando and the Paris suburb of Magnanville, and had on his computer violent images 'linked to radical Islam'.
The Bastille Day terrorist sent a series of chilling text messages just minutes before his deadly attack on the Nice Riviera - delighting in his last minute preparations for the atrocity.
The revelation suggests drug-crazed Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel was not a 'lone wolf' and had at least one helper.
The 31-year-old sent the message at 10.27pm on Thursday saying: 'Bring more weapons, bring five of them to C.' An earlier message said: 'It's good. I have the equipment,' French TV reported.
The significance of 'C' was unclear but Bouhlel had hidden two pistols, ammunition, imitation machine guns and a grenade in the lorry cabin. He launched his attack at around 10.45pm.
Bouhlel had asked for the 'heaviest truck' available when he rented the 19-tonne vehicle and had spent two days driving up and down the Promenade des Anglais working out how to cause the greatest amount of damage.
Now, details have emerged of text messages he sent moments before he slaughtered 84 people and injured hundreds of others who were watching a fireworks display.
He also took a selfie of himself in the truck between picking it up and going on his killing spree, sending it via SMS to others it has now been claimed.
And in further messages now revealed according to Nice Matin, the local newspaper, he talked of his delight in obtaining a 7.65 pistol and his hope for getting other weapons.
More than 200 investigators are now working on identifying all recipients of the killer's texts as they circle in on who knew what, when and why.
Meanwhile, Italian counter-terror officials are investigating a Tunisian living in the southern city of Bari who spoke to the Nice attacker hours before he launched his attack, investigative sources said on Monday.
The man spoke with Bouhlel, who was also Tunisian, by telephone just hours before the delivery man ran down revellers at a Bastille Day celebration in Nice on Thursday with a 19-tonne refrigerator truck, sources said.
Italy's anti-terror police and magistrates opened the probe at the request of French authorities, who had Bouhlel's phone records, the sources said.
The two men had spoken several times in recent weeks, the sources said without giving further details.
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MYSTERY SURROUNDS DISAPPEARANCE OF TEEN WHOSE FAMILY WAS KILLED AFTER ALL VICTIMS WERE IDENTIFIED - AND HE WASN'T AMONG THEM
Andre Raffaelli's aunt today pleaded for information about her nephew, who has been missing since the night of the attack
Andre Raffaelli has been missing since Thursday
Mystery surrounds the disappearance of a teenager, who has not been seen since the terrorist attack in Nice killed members of his family.
Andre Raffaelli - who turns 17 on Tuesday - has been missing since Thursday, but as authorities finished identifying the dead and injured in Nice, his name still had not appeared.
His brother Bruno, 14, is in a coma; his uncle and his grandmother's partner are both dead.
His aunt, in tears outside the hospital where what remains of this decimated family is standing vigil at his hospital bed, is desperately hoping he has survived.
Andre's mother Caroline Villani - who was hurt in the attack - was too upset to speak.
The teen was with his family, who live in the village of Puget-sur-Argens, near the where the music was playing when the truck ploughed through the crowd.
'We are searching for Andre,' his aunt - who refused to give her name - said, her voice trembling as she held up his photo outside Pasteur hospital.
'He is not in the hospital and he is not dead.
'Much of his family is dead and we are looking for him.
'We have done it all - Monaco, Antibes. We are looking everywhere.
'We were told to wait, to wait, to wait. They have identified all the bodies. But he is not here.
'Maybe he is in Nice. Maybe he cannot remember.
'Give us back our Andre.'
