18 January – Swiss activistChaïm Nissim fires five rockets, obtained from theRed Army Faction throughCarlos the Jackal, on theSuperphénix nuclear plant, then under construction. Rockets are launched at the incomplete containment building and cause damage, missing the reactor's empty core.
31 July –Beaune coach crash: 53 persons, 46 of them children, die in a road accident inBeaune in France's worst road accident.
9 August – Six people are killed and 22 injured when the Jo Goldenberg restaurant on theRue des Rosiers in Paris' Jewish quarter isattacked by terrorists.
28 August – The "Irish of Vincennes" are arrested by a secret presidential anti-terrorist police unit on suspicion of the Jo Goldenberg attack. They are later exonerated when the evidence against them is found to have been planted.