Being Charlie 1

Paris, France, Wednesday 7 January, a black Citroen C3 drove up to the Charlie Hebdo building in Rue Nicolas-Appert. Two masked gunmen, dressed in black and armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles got out and approached the offices.

It did seem they were a little-bit confused about the building, because they first entered the wrong office, two blocs before the Hebdo office. Not bad at the other building, nr. 10,  they did first ask where the Charlie Hebdo offices were, before shooting caretaker Frederic Boisseau, 42.

Corinne Rey, just returned to the building after picking up her daughter from day care was threatened by the gunmen who forced her to enter the code for the keypad entry to the newsroom on the second floor – where a weekly editorial meeting was taking place.

The men asked for the paper’s editor Stephane Charbonnier, known as Charb, by name before opening fire and killing the editor and his police bodyguard, Franck Brinsolaro. They also shot dead seven other journalists and a guest attending the meeting.

Witnesses said they heard the gunmen shouting

“We have avenged the Prophet Muhammad”

and

“God is Greatest” in Arabic (“Allahu Akbar”)

while calling out the names of the journalists.

This could be an indication that it was out of revenge for bringing a stain on the prophet. Though when you look at the background of those killers (two French brothers: Said & Cherif Kouachi) they did not seem to be living according to the Islam, using alcohol, drugs, lots of violence having the oldest prisoned more than once.

Laurent Leger, 48, an investigations correspondent at the satirical weekly, told Le Parisien – where he previously worked – about Wednesday’s meeting that it was the first news conference of the year. He said.

“Everyone was on top form and happy. Some of them had just come back from holiday. It was almost euphoric. The year ahead was looking good for the magazine and we already had lots of projects in the pipeline.”

Involved in a lively debate about Michel Houellebecq’s controversial novel, published that day, which featured a Muslim president of France. Cabu, the cartoonist, “didn’t hide his unhappiness” at the book, said Mr Leger. Philippe Lancon, the literary critic, disagreed and said it was a good read. The conference was about to break up when they heard what they thought were firecrackers in the street below.

“We didn’t pay any more attention than that,” he said. “We were just happy to see each other again.”

It was at that point that the door to the meeting room was thrown open.

“A man dressed in black with a uniform like that worn by police or gendarmes appeared just behind me,” said Mr Leger, who was seated with his back to the door.

“I turned around. He was big, hefty, and had an assault weapon in his hands.

“We still thought it was a joke. The atmosphere was still joyous. But then we smelt the strong odour of gunpowder in the corridor, and we all realised that this wasn’t a joke at all.”

Mr Leger said the gunman opened fire immediately. After threwing himself into the air, he then crouched on the floor by a small table, making himself unnoticed by the killer.

“I can’t really describe what I saw,”

he said.

“We lost such great talent. All the cartoonists fell in a fraction of a second.

Because the people sitting around a circular table in the wooden-floored office, it was not so easy for the killer to go quickly all the way around the room.

“That’s what undoubtably saved many lives.”

Though the killers said not to kill women, this was not true, as Elsa Cayat was among the dead.

Journalists and workers who had taken refuge on nearby rooftops filmed the gunmen getting out of the car, walking and shooting at the police vehicle, before driving off. And when we look at the pictures it seemed they were very well trained.

The police car’s windscreen was riddled with bullets but the officers escaped unhurt.

In the past Stéphane Charbonnier, the 47-year-old editor of Charlie Hebdo, with his team had received frequent death threats and had been under police protection for years, but said he was never afraid.

Cartoonist Jean Cabut, 76, was one of the founders of Charlie Hebdo’s predecessor magazine, Hara-Kiri, banned by the French government after it printed a cover targeting Charles de Gaulle days after the former president’s death.

When Cabu paid tribute to his friend Cavanna

Further killed: Georges Wolinski, 80, who also helped start Hara-Kiri in 1961, copy editor at the magazine Mustapha Ourrad, in his 60s, Bernard Verlhac  (pen name Tignous), 57, Philippe Honoré, 73, regular columnist psychiatrist and author Elsa Cayat, Bernard Maris (pen name Oncle Bernard), Michel Renaud, 69, a former journalist and world-travelling artist, happened to be in the offices of Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday morning to meet with Cabut, who was to be the keynote speaker at a festival Renaud was helping to organize.

Next to police officer Franck Brinsolaro, bodyguard of Charlie Hebdo editor Stéphane Charbonnier who was sitting in the editorial room when the gunmen shot the cartoonists and journalists dead, Muslim Ahmed Merabet, 42, who happened to be patrolling the area at the time was also killed.

Mr Merabet is seen in footage released by Reuters begging the gunmen to spare his life in the 11th arrondissement of Paris, where the offices of the publication are situated, before he was shot more than once. The man is survived by his wife.

After being shot the first time, the gunmen wearing balaclavas and holding Kalashnikov rifles are seen running past the police officer – who had his hands up in surrender – and shot in his direction again at point-blank range as he was lying on the pavement outside the offices.

The masked gunmen is heard asking the police officer “Do you want to kill me?” before he allegedly replied “No, it is OK chief” before one of them shot him a second time round amid an attack described as the worst in France in 50 years.

12 people killed and 11 others injured (5 seriously) at  the Paris offices of the satirical magazine shocked not only the French but started a worldwide reaction for the freedom of expression and brought to the attention that this militant attack also deepened wounds and may hinder national efforts to rise above anti-Muslim sentiment.

Life news of the year 2015, terror attack and mass shooting at Charlie Hebdo in Paris

Several French citizens soon after the incident came spontaneously on the streets giving a clear sign that they were not afraid (Pas Peur) and that they wanted to be part of Charlie Hebdo, saying “Je suis Charlie” (I am Charlie)

The public like the co-workers of the magazine did not want to be silenced. already on Thursday the magazine’s editorial team vowed to continue their work. They said the next edition, published on Wednesday, would be the largest yet. François Hollande, the French president, said that the state would provide a million euros to keep the low-circulation, niche – but much loved – magazine alive. Different companies also came to give their support and financial help.

We know a lot of French to be somewhat Islamophobic and this cowardly attack is again grist to the mill, enabling to feed the right wing’s fear and reason to be there (raison d’ètre).

People not familiar with the weekly magazine, which started in 1969, should know that this satirical magazine did not take a leaf in front their mouth for anybody. It always wanted to go out to break every taboo going and I would agree sometimes went very far in doing that walking on a thin line of decency.  No one “in the picture” was safe for their sharp pen or pencil. Church fathers, politicians, tycoons, if they believe in a god, God or something else, they all could expect their share of investigation, when they came in the news with something. The French satirical weekly Charlie Hedbo has courted controversy before for showing its left wing criticism and lampooning any radicalism of which Islam was just one, and was targeted in a 2011 firebombing by the last ones.  In 2012, the paper had also provoked controversy by publishing crude caricatures of Muhammad. Charbonnier, who by that time was under police protection, defended the cartoons.

“Muhammad isn’t sacred to me,”

he said.

“I don’t blame Muslims for not laughing at our drawings. I live under French law. I don’t live under Qur’anic law.”

After this mass shooting at Charlie Hebdo, several years of support to try to create more understanding between Muslims and non-Muslims in French society could be damaged. Also in the neighbourhood countries this could be a new flame to ignite new anti-Muslim fires, which got already seen on the same nigh when Molotov cocktails were thrown at some mosques.

Good to see in France, Belgium and the Netherlands several Muslims dared to say that they condemn such barbarism and some of them admitted even that it was totally against the teachings of their prophet and wrong in the eyes of Allah. In Holland the day after the majority of Muslims who also joined the thousands of manifesting showed  a huge solidarity with the people who were killed, and declared that they are Europeans and want to stay living in a state where there is freedom of expression.

JeSuisCharlie reactions on Twitter against the violence and restriction of expression

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To be continued

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• Charlie Hebdo attack: What we know so far
• Charlie Hebdo shooting: Remembering the victims
• Charlie Hebdo : Cabu, Charb, Wolinski, Maris et les autres, tués dans l’attaque
• Inside Charlie Hebdo attack: ‘We all thought it was a joke’
• Charlie Hebdo shooting: Debate over publishing the Muhammad cartoons
• Charlie Hebdo Paris shooting may deepen ‘normalized Islamophobia’Charlie
• Hebdo attack: Suspects cornered with hostage, 2nd hostage-taking at bakery unfolds
• Charlie Hebdo shooting: Stéphane Charbonnier, Bernard Maris among those killed
• First photo from inside Charlie Hebdo offices following Paris terrorist attack
• One victim killed in Charlie Hebdo attacks was Muslim police officer Ahmed Merabet
• Charlie Hebdo: Muslim police officer killed in Paris attack commemorated with #JeSuisAhmed
• Charlie Hebdo Paris shooting may deepen ‘normalized Islamophobia’
• Charlie Hebdo attack: Suspects cornered with hostage, 2nd hostage-taking at bakery unfolds
• Charlie Hebdo shooting: Stéphane Charbonnier, Bernard Maris among those killed
• First photo from inside Charlie Hebdo offices following Paris terrorist attack
• One victim killed in Charlie Hebdo attacks was Muslim police officer Ahmed Merabet
• Charlie Hebdo: Muslim police officer killed in Paris attack commemorated with #JeSuisAhmed
• Charlie Hebdo Paris hostage-takings

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