Re: French magazine staff killed because of comic
French Anti-Terror Forces Raiding Site in Reims, AFP Says By [bn:PRSN=15004832] Helene Fouquet [] Jan 8, 2015 7:38 AM GMT+0800 <!--[if (!IE)|(gte IE 8)]-->
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</section> French anti-terror forces are raiding a site in the northeastern city of Reims as part of their hunt for the suspects in the attack on satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, Agence-
France Presse said, citing the police.
AFP didn’t give details on the operation in Reims, which is about 90 miles away from Paris.
At least 12 people were killed at the weekly Charlie Hebdo in eastern Paris, prompting France to deploy thousands of police to protect train stations, airports, schools and cultural sites. Le Point magazine identified the assailants as brothers Said and Cherif Kaouchi, aged 32 and 34 respectively, and Hamyd Mourad, 18.
“All the elements of this investigation would be made public as soon we have precise and final elements,” Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said earlier in the day.
The country was put on the highest terrorist alert after one of its deadliest attacks since World War II, with protection extended to places of worship and media outlets. The assault was carried out by two masked men brandishing AK-47 Kalashnikov rifles, with at least one shouting “
Allahu Akbar,” or “God is great” in Arabic. It left 11 people injured, with four of them in critical condition.
[h=2]‘State of Shock’[/h]“France is in a state of shock after this terrorist attack,” said French President
Francois Hollande. “An act of exceptional barbarity has been perpetrated against a newspaper, against liberty of expression, against journalists.”
The attacks threaten to stoke Islamophobia in a country that has the biggest proportion of Muslims in Europe and may bolster support for the anti-immigration National Front party. Thousands of people descended into town squares across France tonight to defend what they said were values dear to them.
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“I came here to show we don’t cede to terror,” said Elie Benchimol, 23, an economics student who was at the Place de la Republique in Paris. “France must continue to define itself as a country of freedom of expression and rule of law.”
The dead included eight journalists, a guest at the weekly, a maintenance man and two policemen. The magazine’s most renowned cartoonists -- Cabu, Charb, Tignous and Wolinski -- were among those killed.
[h=2]‘Well-Armed Commandos’[/h]The journalists had gathered on the second floor of the magazine’s offices in the 11th arrondissement of Paris for their weekly editorial meeting.
The three assailants, including a driver, arrived at Charlie Hebdo in a Citroen C3 at 11:30 a.m. After the shootings that lasted about five minutes, they got back into their car -- filmed by some journalists from the roof of the building -- headed toward Porte de Pantin on the northern edge of Paris, where police lost track of them, according to Emmanuel Quemener from the police union Alliance.
“It was well-armed commandos,” he said. “They had weapons of war, including Kalashnikovs. We’ve never seen anything like it.”
Hollande said all potential terrorist targets across France have been put under the highest protection, adding that several possible incidents had been foiled in recent weeks.
[h=2]Previous Attacks[/h]France’s last major terrorist violence came in 1995, when bombings struck public places between July and October, including the Saint Michel metro station in the heart of Paris. Bombs also exploded in the Place de l’Etoile.
In all, eight were killed and about 200 were injured. The bombings were blamed on an Algerian rebel group.
In 2012, Mohammed Merah, a 23-year-old Frenchman of Algerian descent, murdered seven people, including three children and a teacher at a Jewish school in Toulouse.
“We can’t accept this madness,” Dalil Boubakeur, the Paris Mosque’s rector, said today. “We want to live in peace.”
In an address to the nation, Hollande called for calm.
“Our best weapon is unity,” he said. “Very talented cartoonists and journalists have died. They were part of the lives of generations of French people. Their message of freedom will continue to be defended in their names.”
[h=2]World Condemnation[/h]The attacks drew condemnation from across the world. U.S. President
Barack Obama offered French authorities assistance to investigate the shooting. Prime Minister
David Cameron called the attacks “barbaric,” saying the U.K. stands united with the French people in its opposition to all forms of terrorism.’’
Charlie Hebdo’s cover this week is on “Submission,” a book by Michel Houellebecq released today, which is sparking controversy with its depiction of a fictional France of the future led by an Islamic party and a Muslim president who bans women from the workplace. Submission is the English translation of the word Islam.
Famous for its biting commentary, irreverent, often offensive cartoons, the magazine had earlier in the day
tweeted a cartoon of an Islamic State emir, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Charlie Hebdo’s offices were firebombed in November 2011 after it published a special edition featuring the
Prophet Muhammad as a “guest editor.” The fire caused no injuries.
In his sixth novel, Houellebecq plays on fears that western societies are being inundated by the influence of Islam, a worry that this month drew thousands in anti-Islamist protests in
Germany. In the novel, Houellebecq has the imaginary “Muslim Fraternity” party winning a presidential election in France against the nationalist, anti-immigration National Front.
Houellebecq’s book is set in France in 2022. It has the fictional Muslim Fraternity’s chief, Mohammed Ben Abbes, beating National Front Leader Marine Le Pen, with Socialists, centrists, and Nicolas Sarkozy’s UMP party rallying behind him to block the National Front.
Ben Abbes goes on to ban women in the workplace, advocates polygamy, pushes Islamic schools on the masses and imposes a conservative and religious vision of society. The French widely accept the new environment, hence the book’s title.
[h=2]French Troops[/h]France is home to
Europe’s largest Muslim population, with more than 5 million people of the faith out of a population of about 65 million, a number that’s been growing with children and grandchildren of 20th-century immigrants. Very few Muslims have reached top-level jobs in France, and second-and- third-generation French people of Arab descent say they often face discrimination.
The fear of Islamization has traction in France with opinion polls showing the anti-immigration Le Pen would lead in the first round of the 2017 presidential race. The party topped the Socialist party and UMP in last year’s European elections. It may score well again in this year’s local ballots.
The attack comes against the backdrop of French military actions in
Africa and the
Middle East to combat Islamic groups.
The French army currently has two overseas operations, with about 3,800 troops. Its forces began fighting in the Sahel region of Africa -- spanning
Mali,
Chad, Mauritania, Burkina Fasso and Niger -- in 2013. France also joined the U.S. in fighting the Islamic State in Syria and
Iraq.
About 800 soldiers are stationed in the Middle East for the operation and France is bombing the group in Iraq
To contact the reporter on this story: Helene Fouquet in Paris at
[email protected]
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alan Crawford at
[email protected]; Vidya Root at
[email protected] Cecile Daur, Rick Schine
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Photographer: Joel Saget/AFP via Getty Images French soldiers patrol in front of the Eiffel Tower on Jan. 7, 2015 in Paris as the capital was placed under the highest alert status after heavily armed gunmen shouting Islamist slogans stormed French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and shot dead at least 12 people in the deadliest attack in France in four decades. Police launched a massive manhunt for the masked attackers who reportedly hijacked a car and sped off, running over a pedestrian and shooting at officers.
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French soldiers patrol in front of the Eiffel Tower on Jan. 7, 2015 in Paris as the capital was placed under the...
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Photographer: Anne Gelbard/AFP via Getty Images Armed gunmen face police officers near the offices of the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris on Jan. 7, 2015, during an attack on the offices of the newspaper which left eleven dead, including two police officers, according to sources close to the investigation.
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Armed gunmen face police officers near the offices of the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris on Jan....
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Photographer: Bertrand Guay/AFP via Getty Images The latest issue of the French satirical newspaper "Charlie Hebdo" in Paris on Jan. 7, 2015, after gunmen armed with Kalashnikovs and a rocket-launcher opened fire in the offices of the weekly in Paris, killing at least 11.
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The latest issue of the French satirical newspaper "Charlie Hebdo" in Paris on Jan. 7, 2015, after gunmen armed with...
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Photographer: Francois Nascimbeni/AFP/Getty Images Police are seen during an operation in the "Croix-Rouge" suburb of Reims, northern France early Jan. 8, 2015 following the attack on satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo that left 12 dead in Paris.
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Police are seen during an operation in the "Croix-Rouge" suburb of Reims, northern France early Jan. 8, 2015...
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