Horrific news from Paris today.
Mr. Castaing, the police spokesman, said that the three armed men, wearing masks, had forced their way into the offices of the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo and had fired indiscriminately at people in the lobby, hitting many. He said that they were carrying AK-47 weapons, and that the attack had lasted several minutes before the attackers fled by car.
The Independent reports that four of the victims were cartoonists:
Four of France?s best-known satirical cartoonists, including the magazine’s editor, were among the dead. A further 12 people were injured, some gravely, in what is the worst terrorist incident in France for 40 years.
I’ll watch for more information regarding those cartoonists. Cartoonists Rights Network International reports the four cartoonists were Charb, Cabu, Wolinski and Tignous.
Below is an alleged screenshot from a video that caught the attack.
Catherine Herridge / FOXNEWS reports eyewitness accounts that gunmen asked for individuals by name as they stormed the building.
Robert Nesbit / SKYNEWS reports that the editor had been asked by the Pres. of France not to provoke muslim extremists to which he replied “I would rather die on my feet than live on my knees”. He was among the assassinated. #JeSuisCharlie
Timeline: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/11329976/Paris-Charlie-Hebdo-attack-live.html
Editor Killed In Shooting Offered This Explanation In 2012 For Publishing Muhammad Cartoons
http://www.businessinsider.com/stephane-charbonnier-interview-on-mohammad-cartoons-2015-1#ixzz3O9f3QO1V
“I have been in this newspaper for 20 years, it has been 20 years that we have been caught and caught of being provocative, it just so happens that every time we deal with radical Islam we have a problem and we get indignant violent reactions. […] But what surprises me is the reaction of French politicians: We are a country in the rule of law, we respect the French law. Our only limit is French law, it is that what we have to obey. We haven’t infringed the French law, we have the right to use our freedom, as we understand it.”
Awful news… my heart goes to the families of the victims, as well as freedom of speech.
There had been a previous attack (incendiary) a couple of years ago, if memory serves. No peace to be had with savages!
I can never understand these shooters. If they believe so much in their ideology that they are willing to kill for it …then what’s with the masks?
I agree with Bernard Goldberg who wrote:
“And now we?ll see if the media are still afraid of Muslim extremists. Now the press and television have an opportunity to show courage: Publish the French cartoons that mocked Islamic fanatics on page one of the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal and every other paper in the country. Run the cartoons on ABC, NBC, CBS and all the cable news outlets.
The attack this time was in Paris. But everyone knows ? especially journalists ? that it was an attack on American values and democratic values everywhere. What happened in Paris was an attack on every news organization in every country everywhere in the world where people believe in a free press. Let?s see how journalists respond.”
Carl – make a bet that the most editors are very fast with solidarity statements but when it comes to show some spine, for example by publishing these Mohammad cartoons, the editors are afraid of losing advertisng partners and readers and refuse publishing something “politically incorrect”.
@Karsten Schley, Europe is, North America isn’t, generally speaking.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2015-01-08/paris-killings-fuel-media-quandary-on-showing-religious-cartoons.html
@G Louis – thanks for the link, I can see the differences. To us, or better to European satirists, stop pouring petrol into a fire means to keep silent – that’s inacceptable! Today, Brussels daily ‘Le Soir’ faced a bomb threat and the German ‘Hamburger Morgenpost’ got attacked with fire bombs for supporting ‘Charlie Hebdo’ and for publishing the Mohammad cartoons. If this is the price we’ve got to pay for a free press, it’s worth the risk.