Minute's silence held at Stade de France in memory of Paris attacks

A man walks past restaurant tables in front of the Stade de France stadium in Saint-Denis almost one year after a series of attacks at several sites in Saint-Denis and Paris, France, November 11, 2016. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes

PARIS (Reuters) - A minute's silence was held at the Stade de France ahead of France's World Cup qualifier against Sweden on Friday, marking the first anniversary of the Paris attacks. A series of attacks by Islamic militants killed 130 on Friday Nov. 13 after gunmen and suicide bombers targeted Paris bars and restaurants, as well as the Stade de France where Les Bleus were playing a friendly game against Germany. French president Francois Hollande, who was also at the France v Germany game last year, is attending Friday's match along with invited presidents of the French Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 clubs. "We have to remember. One year ago, almost to the day, we were here for a friendly game and three bombs were detonated, with one man being killed," Hollande told French TV. "We have to remember there were 130 people who died and hundreds of others who were injured. For them and for those who survived we must remember." Security was tight, with some 1,200 stewards and 400 police officers deployed in and around the stadium. "We the players and all those who were in the stadium that day, we are all linked by this tragedy," France captain Hugo Lloris told a news conference on Thursday. "It's a tragic event but as we use to say, we have to look forward and try to turn the page, even if this event will be engraved in our memories." (Reporting by Julien Pretot, editing by Pritha Sarkar)