A NORTH-EAST man has told how he threw himself on top of his girlfriend then "played dead" to save them during the shooting which killed more than 80 people at the Bataclan concert hall in Paris on Friday night.

Michael O'Connor, from South Shields, was at the venue when the gunmen attacked.

The 30-year-old lay on top of his girlfriend to protect her as other audience members were shot and killed. Both escaped unharmed after playing dead.

"What they want to do is to terrify us," he told BBC Radio 5 live's Stephen Nolan show.

"We can't let them win and these people just, they're just monsters, they're just, they don't represent anything, they're not Muslims, they're not, they're just animals.

"How can you walk in there, I mean, I'm 30 years old, I was probably the oldest, one of the oldest people in the gig.

"It was full of teenagers and, you know, people in their early 20s going to see a band."

Describing the unfolding horror, Mr O’Connor said he heard a loud bang and didn’t react at first, thinking it was part of the set.

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But when he turned around he saw two gunmen starting to open fire into the crowd with assault rifles. 
He said: "People were falling all over the place, people screaming, people just clawing and running and pushing to get away.

"Once I half-realised what was going on, my first instinct was to get me and my girlfriend out of there.

"The attackers, I don't think I heard them saying anything or shouting anything or making any demands, they were just firing indiscriminately into the crowd.

"Once he had emptied the magazines, everybody got back up and tried to make another dash for the exit, and then he just reloaded and started to fire into us all again. It was unbelievable.” 

Mr O’Connor pulled his girlfriend Sara Badel Craeye with him and tried to make his way to the exit, but realising their escape route was blocked by metal barriers pulled her to the ground and lay on top of her. 

He was surrounded by people who were unconscious or dead. 

He said: “There were wounded, it was really strange because they looked terribly wounded and they were obviously conscious but they weren't crying out, they were obviously trying to stay quiet so that they didn't attract more gunfire."

He added: I thought I was going to die. At one point, because we couldn’t see, it sounds like they were firing down from the balcony into the main area where everybody was lying.

"I guess I thought at some point they are just going to shoot at us as well and everybody else.

“I just told my girlfriend I loved her. What else can you do in that situation?”

When the police entered he heard exchange of gunfire - then silence. 

He said: “Police told us to wave if you are alive. Stay where you are. . .It was such a relief to see them, unbelievable. I have never felt so happy in my entire life.”

Home Secretary Theresa May this morning chaired a meeting of the Government's Cobra committee to consider the latest information on the massacre and the UK's response.

The first British fatality was named as Nick Alexander, who was selling merchandise for rock band Eagles of Death Metal when their concert was targeted by members of the Islamic State (IS) terror cell thought to be behind the attacks in the French capital.

The death toll among Britons is expected to rise, and the total loss of life in the atrocity has been revised up to at least 129, with 352 people injured, 99 critically.

A UK Government source said: "We know of one death already, we fear there may be a handful of British fatalities and about the same number are being treated for their injuries in hospital."

David Cameron earlier warned that the UK should "be prepared for a number of British casualties", as he told the French people: "Your fight is our fight."

During the attacks, scores were killed alongside Mr Alexander at the Bataclan concert hall, two suicide attacks and a bombing took place at the Stade de France stadium where French president Francois Hollande was among thousands of football fans watching the national side play a friendly against Germany, and gunmen targeted bars and restaurants in the 10th and 11th arrondissements of central Paris.

Details about the terror cell which carried out the attack have started to emerge as authorities across Europe carried out investigations.

  • Prosecutors believe three teams of terrorists carried out co-ordinated attacks.
  • All seven suicide attackers wore identical explosives belts.
  • One of the suicide bombers at the Bataclan has been identified as a young Frenchman flagged in the past for links with Islamic extremist activity.
  • Suicide bombers who targeted the Stade de France were found to have Egyptian and Syrian passports.
  • One was reported to have had a ticket for the game and detonated his bomb after being stopped by security staff trying to enter the stadium.
  • The authorities in Athens said the holder of the Syrian passport had passed through Greece as a refugee.
  • Three arrests linked to the deadly attacks in Paris were made by the authorities in Belgium, after a car with Belgian number plates was seen close to the Bataclan.
  • Family members of one of the attackers - a Frenchman born in the Paris suburbs - have been detained, the Paris prosecutor's office said.

A joint statement issued by European Union leaders vowed to "face this threat together with all necessary means and ruthless determination".

It added: "Everything that can be done at European level to make France safe will be done. We will do what is necessary to defeat extremism, terrorism and hatred."