Church bells ring as France marks decade since Paris attacks

Macron pledged France would do everything to avoid any similar attack.

"For those who take up arms against France, the response will be uncompromising," he said.

Earlier during the commemorations, Jesse Hughes, of Eagles of Death Metal, sang "You'll Never Walk Alone" with a choir composed of survivors and people who had lost loved ones.

- 'The absence is immense' -

Thursday's ceremonies began at the Stade de France just outside Paris, where the family of the first person killed in the attacks, Manuel Dias, paid homage to the victims.

"We will never forget. They tell us to move on 10 years later, but the absence is immense," said his daughter, Sophie Dias.

Macron and other officials paid their respects at each site of the attacks.

Residents of the French capital honoured the anniversary with candles, flowers and notes at a temporary memorial at the Place de la Republique.

Adrain Aggrey said he had laid flowers for the families of the victims "to show them we haven't forgotten".

The sole surviving member of the 10-person jihadist cell that staged the attacks, 36-year-old Salah Abdeslam, is serving life in jail.

The other nine attackers blew themselves up or were killed by police.

"France over these years has been able to stand united and overcome it all," former president Francois Hollande told AFP before the anniversary.

The then-president was at the Stade de France when the attacks began, and was whisked out of the crowd before re-appearing on television late at night, describing what had happened as a "horror".

He declared France "at war" with the jihadists and their self-proclaimed caliphate, then straddling Syria and Iraq.

- 'Democracy always wins' -

Hollande testified in the 148-day trial that led to Abdeslam being jailed for life in 2022.

He said he remembered telling the defendants, including others accused of plotting or offering logistical support, that they had been given defence lawyers despite having committed "the unforgivable".

"We are a democracy, and democracy always wins in the end," he said he told them.

US-backed forces in 2019 in eastern Syria defeated the last remnants of the IS proto-state hat inspired the Paris attacks.

Abdeslam remains behind bars and is open to the idea of speaking to victims of the attacks if they want to take part in a "restorative justice" initiative, according to his lawyer Olivia Ronen.

In Paris, survivors and the relatives of those killed have attempted to rebuild their lives, but some have approached the tributes with apprehension.

Stephane Sarrade's 23-year-old son Hugo was killed at the Bataclan, a place he has avoided since.

"I am incapable of going there," he told AFP, adding he would stay away from Thursday's ceremonies.

A museum is to open in 2029 to house around 500 objects linked to the attacks or the victims, most contributed by the bereaved families to curators.

The Terrorism Memorial Museum's collection includes a concert ticket donated by a mother who lost her only daughter at the Bataclan, and the unfinished guitar of a luthier who was also killed at the concert.

It also contains a blackboard menu of La Belle Equipe riddled with bullet holes, still bearing the words "Happy Hour".