INQUISITR.COM / Entertainment

Bastille Day Attack: Bono Of U2 Evacuated During Nice Terror Attack

By Anne Sewell
Published on: 00:19 PST, Jul 17, 2016

The lead singer of U2 was enjoying dinner at La Petit Maison restaurant on the seafront in Nice as the Bastille Day attack unfolded. Bono, 56, owns a house in the nearby town of Eze and was relaxing with friends on the terrace of the restaurant when the terror attack began at around 10:30 p.m. Thursday.

Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel drove a hired truck down the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, killing 84 people – including 10 children – who had been enjoying a fireworks display, and injuring dozens more.

It turns out Bono was among other diners in the restaurants lining the street that were caught up in the fear and panic.

Anne-Laure Rubi owns Le Petit Maison – an upmarket restaurant on the beach boulevard, popular with many celebrities.

Speaking to the French language La Parisienne magazine, Rubi described the panic ensuing after the Nice terror attack, saying “Suddenly I saw people running, without shouting.”

“It was a silent panic – it was extraordinary,” Rubi said, adding she had grabbed the arm of Christian Estrosi, the former Mayor of Nice, who was sitting close to Bono in the restaurant.

“What’s going on?” she asked him.

“He was on the phone. He didn’t want to say much. I think he was just learning about the attack.”

The restaurant staff then reportedly pulled down the shutters and asked everyone to hide and remain calm until the police gave the all clear.

It reportedly took a while for details of the Bastille Day terror attack to become available and the U2 singer and other diners were rescued by armed police officers and taken to the nearby Massena Square.

The Telegraph quotes a diner in the La Petit Maison restaurant as saying, “It took about half an hour for the police to get us out.”

“Like everybody else, Bono had to put his hands on his head and was told to remain calm.”

“The police were clearly very worried that terrorists might still be at large and everybody was under suspicion,” the diner added.

In related news on the Inquisitr:

Reportedly, Eric Dupont-Moretti, lawyer of the Real Madrid footballer Karim Benzema, and the restaurateur Alain Ducasse were also in the restaurant at the time of the Bastille Day attack.

A report by the New York Daily News quoted an unnamed diner as saying “There was a panic.”

“Some people who ran collapsed in front of the terrace. All guests were brought indoors.”

At the time of the panic, it was feared that the nearby Meridien Hotel might be under siege and people believed bombs were about to explode.

Bono was likely shaken up, as this is the second time he has found himself close to a major terror attack in France. He was rehearsing with his band U2 for a concert in Paris last November when the Islamic State terrorists hit the nearby Bataclan concert hall, killing 89 people.

At that stage, rather than fleeing Paris, all four U2 members headed to the Bataclan the next morning to pay tribute to the victims. Bono later dubbed the November 13 massacre a “direct hit on music.”

As a boy, Bono witnessed the Dublin and Monaghan bombings by the IRA back in 1974, killing 33 people.

What was somewhat eerie, however, is the fact that just hours prior to the Bastille Day attack, U2 posted an image on their website showing trees against an orange sky and captioned, “Storm Over France, July 14.” The photo has since been removed.

[Photo by Joe Scarnici/Getty Images for J/P Haitian Relief Organization]

Share this article: Bastille Day Attack: Bono Of U2 Evacuated During Nice Terror Attack
More from Inquisitr