They cast stones. They spit. They called him unprintable names. They tossed garbage — plastic bottles, debris from McDonald’s meals, cigarette butts. Some broke down crying. One well-dressed middle-aged woman struggled to light a paper towel on fire, then tossed it on the slowly growing pile of debris, igniting an acrid pyre just 10 yards from where flowers and teddy bears piled in tribute to the victims.

The pile of trash started on Sunday night, but it grew far larger on Monday as thousands gathered for a moment of silence to commemorate the attack. The fury and aggression were a jolting companion to the grief for the lives lost elsewhere on the long waterfront boulevard, where people have created memorials on blood-stained places on the pavement. And it contrasted with the previous attacks in France and Belgium since the beginning of 2014, in which the death sites of the attackers took on no special significance.

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The anger this time around seemed to be of a piece with the new fury toward French leaders, who have been repeatedly booed in Nice when they visited the waterfront. The two attacks in Paris in 2015 felt like moments of national unity, when France came together to condemn the attackers and memorialize the victims. This time, there is far more frustration with French President François Hollande and his allies, whom many in Nice blame for failing to ensure basic security during an obvious opportunity for terrorism, a crowded fireworks show on the French equivalent of Independence Day. There is also swelling anti-immigrant sentiment.

The disgust with French leaders was on display again on Monday, when Prime Minister Manuel Valls was repeatedly booed and heckled as he led the commemoration and minute of silence in Nice. Some in the crowd tried to shout down those who were doing the booing, saying that it was inappropriate at a moment dedicated to the victims. The hecklers won the argument.

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