France marks 10 years since Charlie Hebdo attacks
January 7, 2025
France marked the tenth anniversary of the terror attack on the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo on Tuesday.
French President Emmanuel Macron and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo led the commemorations at the publication's former headquarters in the capital.
As part of Tuesday's ceremony, Macron stood with his wife, Brigitte, alongside former French President Francois Hollande, who had steered the country through the aftermath of the attack a decade ago. Macron joined police officers in laying wreaths and the gathering held a minute's silence.
A lone trumpet played, resonating through a neighborhood scarred by that day's bloodshed.
Macron also posted a poignant message on X, saying the victims of January 7, 2015, would not be forgotten.
Earlier on Tuesday, Chancellor Olaf Scholz wrote on X that Germany "shares the pain of our French friends," on this day, recalling the "barbaric attack" which "targeted our common values of liberty and democracy — which we will never accept."
Charlie Hebdo released a special edition this week featuring a cartoon with the word "Indestructible!" across the front page.
How did the attacks unfold?
At about 11:30 am local time on January 7, 2015, two gunmen entered the offices of Charlie Hebdo on Rue Nicolas-Appert in Paris. The magazine was known for having published caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed in the past.
The shooters were French-Algerian brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi, who killed 12 people and injured 11 others.
The incident prompted law enforcement to begin a massive manhunt across France, before the pair were killed following a lengthy standoff with police two days later.
The attack sparked a spate of related violence in the ensuing days in which a further 17 people were killed, including at a kosher supermarket in Paris.
2015 was a year of Islamist violence in France, culminating with the November 13 attacks on the Bataclan Theater, the Stade de France, and on restaurants and bars in the French capital. These attacks claimed the lives of 130 people.
es/kb (AFP, dpa)