France on Tuesday commemorated the victims of the Islamist shooting attack on the Paris offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo 10 years ago.
A total of 17 people were killed in the shooting at the magazine on January 7, 2015, as well as in connected attacks on a police officer and a kosher supermarket in the days that followed. The three perpetrators were shot and killed by security forces.
Twelve people lost their lives in the attack on Charlie Hebdo alone, in which two brothers opened fire in the editorial office and caused a bloodbath.
The paper had previously published caricatures of the prophet Mohammed that incensed parts of the Muslim world.
President Emmanuel Macron, former president François Hollande, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, Prime Minister François Bayrou and a number of ministers took part in the commemoration in front of the former editorial building.
At the request of the relatives, there were no speeches at Tuesday’s wreath-laying ceremony.
Most well-known French cartoonists killed
Some of France’s most famous cartoonists lost their lives in the attack on Charlie Hebdo.
The attacks sparked outrage internationally. Demonstrations were held under the slogan “Je suis Charlie” (I am Charlie) in a bid to express solidarity with the victims. On January 11, 2015, almost 4 million people took part in rallies in France.
Macron: No let-up in the fight against terrorism
“We know that terrorism is a risk that continues to be present in our societies, which means that there must be no let-up, and collective vigilance is needed,” Macron said on Monday in an address in which he referred to the attack on the magazine.
“There must therefore be no let-up in the fight against terrorism,” Macron asserted.
The attacks in Paris in early 2015 were the start of a series of Islamist terrorist attacks in France in which more than 230 people were killed.
Trial opens in another case
On Monday, a trial began in Paris for another attack in 2020 in front of the former editorial building of Charlie Hebdo.
A 29-year-old man is on trial for using a knife to injure two people at the building in the belief that they were employees of Charlie Hebdo.
He said his motive was the magazine’s publication of new caricatures of Mohammed. He was unaware that the magazine had since moved to an undisclosed location.
