--- title: Paris Mourners Flee After False Alarm Causes Panic description: Police believe the noise that scared the crowd was firecrackers canonical: https://time.com/4113807/place-de-la-republique-paris-false-alarm/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-11-15T18:42:18.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T12:38:41.190Z article:section: World og:title: Paris Mourners Flee After False Alarm Causes Panic og:description: Police believe the sound of firecrackers caused the panic og:url: https://time.com/4113807/place-de-la-republique-paris-false-alarm/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcd47c66c39ff7eeb/6988712e3c16392c6945abab/42-79207382.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: New panic in Paris in the aftermath of terror attacks og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Paris Mourners Flee After False Alarm Causes Panic twitter:description: Police believe the sound of firecrackers caused the panic twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcd47c66c39ff7eeb/6988712e3c16392c6945abab/42-79207382.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Paris Mourners Flee After False Alarm Causes Panic by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Nov 15, 2015 6:42 PM CUT  French police assuming positions at Place de la République in Paris on Nov. 15, 2015. French police assuming positions at Place de la République in Paris on Nov. 15, 2015.Malte Christians—dpa/Corbis by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Nov 15, 2015 6:42 PM CUT Mourners in the Place de la République, the plaza in Paris near much of the violence that occurred Friday night, were dispersed by police with drawn guns on Sunday after hearing what police believe were [firecrackers](http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU%5FFRANCE%5FPARIS%5FATTACKS%5FTHE%5FLATEST?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT "undefined") that scared the crowd. Hundreds of Parisians had come to pay respects to the victims of the terrorist attacks when the popping noises began on Sunday, sending people running and screaming in a panic. Panic also broke out at the nearby Cambodian restaurant where an attack had taken place on Friday, and police with drawn guns were seen there as well. \[[AP](http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU%5FFRANCE%5FPARIS%5FATTACKS%5FTHE%5FLATEST?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT "undefined")\] **Read next**: [Paris Terror Investigators Search for an Eighth Attacker](http://time.com/4113706/paris-terror-investigation-french-citizen-omar-mostefai/?xid=homepage "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4113807/place-de-la-republique-paris-false-alarm/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4113807/place-de-la-republique-paris-false-alarm/"},"headline":"Paris Mourners Flee After False Alarm Causes Panic","datePublished":"2015-11-15T18:42:18.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T12:38:41.190Z","description":"The noise sent Parisians running","url":"https://time.com/4113807/place-de-la-republique-paris-false-alarm/","keywords":["France"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcd47c66c39ff7eeb/6988712e3c16392c6945abab/42-79207382.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcd47c66c39ff7eeb/6988712e3c16392c6945abab/42-79207382.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"New panic in Paris in the aftermath of terror attacks","caption":"New panic in Paris in the aftermath of terror attacks","creditText":"Malte Christians—dpa/Corbis","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4113807/place-de-la-republique-paris-false-alarm/","name":"Paris Mourners Flee After False Alarm Causes Panic"}}]}] ```