British authorities have ordered a review of security arrangements around all big public events following the Nice attack, although they have no intelligence about a specific, imminent threat. Prime minister Theresa May ordered a meeting of the Cobra emergency committee of political, intelligence and police chiefs yesterday morning.
As the French tricolour and union flag flew at half-mast over 10 Downing Street, Ms May said: “Our hearts go out to the French people, and to all those who have lost loved ones or been injured.
“We must redouble our efforts to defeat these brutal murderers who want to destroy our way of life. We must work with France and our partners around the world to stand up for our values and for our freedom.”
Britain stepped up intelligence sharing with France after the attacks in Paris. London offered further co-operation in the wake of Nice. London mayor Sadiq Khan said he would review security as he expressed solidarity with people in France.
“I will reassure all Londoners that we will be reviewing our own safety measures in light of this attack and that I and the Metropolitan Police commissioner will do everything possible to keep Londoners safe.”
Foreign secretary Boris Johnson described the attack as “appalling”, saying his thoughts were with the people of France. “This represents a continuing threat to us in the whole of Europe and we must meet it together,” he said.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn wrote to the French ambassador expressing his condolences, describing it as “an attack on us all”, attempting to set people against each other.
Chancellor Angela Merkel said “words can barely express” her feelings after the Nice attacks, which claimed the lives of at least three Germans: two Berlin students and a teacher.
At a Bastille Day festival at the Brandenburg Gate, beside the French embassy, mayor Michael Müller confirmed Berliners were among the victims.
“Some Berlin school classes were there to celebrate their leaving cert, they were in the thick of it,” he said. “We are all standing here for values and for freedom. To live as we wish, that belongs to the values of our friends in France and our [French] friends in this city.”
French ambassador Philippe Étienne insisted the festival would continue, “to show that we meet challenges united”.
Berlin media reports confirmed the death of the teacher and two students from the Paula Fürst school in the district of Charlottenburg. School principal Ilse Rudnick said that 28 students were visiting Nice.
Nine Berlin schools were on trips to Nice this week, according to German authorities.
Germany has tightened controls at airports as well as border controls to France, “in agreement with French security services”.
Ms Merkel said Germany “stands alongside France in the fight against terrorism”.
German president Joachim Gauck said it was “an attack on the entire free world”, while foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Germany would “mourn with France and stand by their side”.
Germany’s right-wing populist Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) seized the attacks as a stick to beat the government and its immigration policy. “How many times?” tweeted AfD co-leader Frauke Petry alongside the hashtag “borders instead of terror”.
European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker was one of the first to respond, issuing a statement overnight from the Asia-Europe meeting in Mongolia, in which he expressed solidarity with the “victims, their families and all the French nationals grieving after this cowardly, heinous act of terror”.
“France can count on the European Commission to continue supporting it and the other members of the European Union in the fight against terrorism inside and outside our Union,” he said.
In Brussels, the EU and French flags flew at half-mast outside the main European institutions. Outside the European Parliament, where armed soldiers patrolled the entrance, “Je suis Nice” flashed on a screen .
Leader after leader responded to the tragedy from the Asia-Europe summit in Mongolia, attended by Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan.
European Council president Donald Tusk said Europe “stands united with the French people”, Belgium’s foreign minister Didier Reynders said the attack was “barbaric”.
Belgium, which has had a heightened security level since the March attacks that killed 31 people, said it will increase security at events to mark the national holiday on July 21st.
Belgian prime minister Charles Michel said that authorities had detected no specific threat against the country. The threat level will remain at level three, of a four-point scale, he said. “Zero risk does not exist.”
At Nato’s headquarters on the outskirts of Brussels, the flags of all 28 Nato members flew at half-mast. Jens Stoltenberg, secretary general of the alliance, said he was “appalled and saddened by the terrorist attack”.
While terrorism was not on the agenda of next Monday’s meeting of EU foreign affairs ministers which will be attended by Boris Johnson, it is now likely to be discussed, officials said. US secretary of state John Kerry is also due in Brussels on Monday for an informal meeting with EU foreign policy chiefs before the meeting proper starts.
US president Barack Obama condemned it as a “horrific terrorist attack” and directed US officials to help “bring those responsible to justice”.
Among those killed in the attack were two Americans, Seán Copeland from Texas and his 11-year-old son Brodie.
Donald Trump tweeted: “Another horrific attack, this time in Nice, France. Many dead and injured. When will we learn? It is only getting worse.”
He later told Fox News anchor Bill O’Reilly that if he was elected president, he would ask Congress for a declaration of war on Islamic State militants who have been inspiring and planning attacks in France and Belgium.
He seized on the attack to criticise Hillary Clinton, claiming that the US was allowing people into the country with no paperwork and that she would allow “550 per cent more” than Mr Obama was permitting.
Mrs Clinton, also speaking on Fox News's O'Reilly Factor programme, said she viewed the battle against terrorism as a "war" against "radical jihadist" groups and called for an increase in intelligence co-operation between the US and its allies and "strong, tough diplomacy".
“We’ve got to do more to understand that this is a war against these terrorist groups, the radical jihadist groups,” said the Democratic candidate who has been criticised by Republicans for avoiding the term radical Islamism.
