Ten years after the deadly attack on Charlie Hebdo, France commemorates the victims and reflects on the ongoing debate surrounding freedom of expression and religion.
PARIS - France is set to mark Tuesday 10 years since an Islamist attack on the Charlie Hebdo satirical newspaper that shocked the country and led to fierce debate about freedom of expression and religion. President Emmanuel Macron and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo are set to lead commemorations at the site of the weekly's former offices, which were stormed by two masked Qaeda-linked gunmen with AK-47 assault rifles.
Macron and Hidalgo will also remember Ahmed Merabet, a Muslim police officer guarding the offices who was executed at point-blank range as he begged for his life in one of the most shocking images recorded of the tragedy. Twelve people died in the attacks, including eight editorial staff, while a separate but linked hostage-taking at a Jewish supermarket in eastern Paris by a third gunman on 9 January 2015, claimed another four lives. The bloodshed signalled the start of a dark period for France during which extremists inspired by Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group repeatedly mounted attacks that set the country on edge and raised religious tensions. Charlie Hebdo has published a special edition to mark the 10-year anniversary that features a front-page cartoon with the caption 'Indestructible!' In a typically provocative move, the militantly atheist publication also organised a God-themed cartoon contest that invited submissions of the 'funniest and meanest' caricatures of religious figures. 'Satire has a virtue that has enabled us to get through these tragic years: optimism,' said an editorial by its director Laurent Sourisseau, known as 'Riss', who survived the 2015 massacre.The attack on the newspaper by two Paris-born brothers of Algerian descent was said to be revenge for its decision to publish caricatures lampooning the Prophet Mohammed, Islam's most revered figure
FRANCE CHARLIE HEBDO ATTACK FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION RELIGION TERRORISM
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