French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday paid tribute to the victims of the Charlie Hebdo, Montrouge and HyperCacher attacks eight years ago. He took to Twitter to remember the names of the 17 victims and vowed to “never” forget them.
“Kabu, Wolinsky, Charp, Digness, Honour, Bernard Maurice, Elsa Gayet, Frédéric Poisseau, Franck Prinzolaro, Ahmed Merabed, Mustafa Urrad, Michel Renaud, Clarissa Jean-Philippe, Philippe Braham, Yohantabos- : we will never forget you.” The President wrote.
Prime Minister Elizabeth Bourne also paid tribute to the victims. “In the face of Islamic terror, the Republic stands tall. For their families, for our values, for our freedoms: never forget,” he tweeted.
“Intrinsic to our Democracy”
“Humorous, irreverent, republican press cartoons are inherent in our democracy. We continue to protect them,” Culture Minister Reema Abdul Malak responded.
A ceremony took place especially in front of the former premises of Charlie Hebdo, in the 11th arrondissement of Paris, in the presence of the President of the National Assembly, Yael Braun-Pivet, the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Dormanin, and others. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo.
It was in this compound that brothers Saïd and Chérif Kouachi killed 11 people on January 7, 2015. Among the victims were “Charlie” icons, its director and cartoonist Charp, caricaturists Cabu, Wolinksi, Honoré, Tignous and economist Bernard Maurice.
A few meters away, police lieutenant Ahmed Merabed was killed by the Kwachi brothers when they tried to intercept their plane. Two Islamists claimed to be members of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (Aqba) and had come to avenge the caricature of the Prophet Muhammad in a satirical newspaper. They were killed after fleeing for two days.
Tensions with Tehran
On January 8, another jihadist, Amedy Coulibaly, killed a policewoman in Montrouge. The next day, this radicalized criminal, who claimed to be from IS, killed four hostages, all Jews, in a kosher supermarket in eastern Paris. He was shot down in this attack.
Eight years later, Charlie Hebdo found itself at the center of a diplomatic crisis this week after cartoons were published on the Iranian regime, which Tehran deemed an insult. Iran on Thursday announced the closure of the country’s oldest and most important French research center, the French Research Institute in Iran (IFRI), which is affiliated with the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
This article was published automatically. Sources: ats / afp
“Avid gamer. Social media geek. Proud troublemaker. Thinker. Travel fan. Problem solver.”