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Terrorism In Paris
Top News Today
CharlieHebdo is best known for lampooning Islam, Judaism and Christianity and has been targeted for its brand of satire before. In 2011, its offices were firebombed after a special issue renamed the magazine “Charia Hedbo” and listed the prophet Muhammad as its editor-in-chief. The cover of that issue was a cartoon of the prophet saying, “100 lashes of the whip if you don’t die laughing.” This week’s issue was published featuring a caricature on the cover of author MichelHouellebecq, whose new book, Submission, tells a tale of a future Muslim-run France under Islamic law.
Muslim extremists had warned there would be ramifications if the publication didn’t stop poking fun at Islam. They apparently kept their word.
As the terrorists fired shots at the unsuspecting journalists, they were heard shouting “Allahu Akbar,” which translates to “God is good.”
Among the dead are 5 leading editorial cartoonists: Stéphane Charbonnier, 47, who was known professionally as Charb; Jean Cabut, 76, who used the pen name Cabu; Georges Wolinski, 80; Philippe Honoré, 73; and Bernard Verlhac, 57, who wrote as Tignous.
Also killed were Bernard Maris, a columnist, Elsa Cayat, a psychoanalyst who wrote regularly for the weekly, and Mustapha Ourrad, identified as a copy editor of Algerian descent by The New Yorker. A visitor to the magazine, Michel Renaud, also died in the attack, as did Frédéric Boisseau, a 42-year-old maintenance worker in the building.
As of late Wednesday night, one of the suspects, 18-year-old Hamyd Mourad, turned himself into police. The remaining 2 additional suspects, brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi, remain at large.
Speaking to reporters on the scene, President Francois Hollande said this was a “terrorist operation” in which journalists were “cowardly assassinated.”
“France today faced a shock,” Hollande said. “Today I’m thinking about the victims.”
Hundreds of French residents gathered in the streets Wednesday evening, holding up signs reading “Je Suis Charlie” — I Am Charlie — in a show of respect toward those slain and defiance toward the attackers. “There is a feeling of togetherness,” says NPR’s Eleanor Beardsley, who visited a large vigil at the Place de la Republique. “Everyone out there was chanting, ‘We are all Charlie.’ ”
Several French media companies united in support to Charlie Hebdo’s staff, offering to help them continue publishing and stressing the importance of “preserving the principles of independence and liberty of thought and expression.”
This certainly is a tragedy.
And apparently the violence is still unfolding. This morning, while I was getting dressed for work I heard CNN and other news media was reporting the following:
A female police officer has died of her wounds in a gunfight in Paris Thursday as French media reported that the two brothers suspected of killing 12 people at a satirical magazine in Paris had been located in eastern France.
Agence France Press, citing police sources, reported Thursday morning that the two suspects in the previous day's shooting at the offices of Charlie Hebdo were located in l'Aisne, North Eastern France. [….]