The 6th commemoration of the January 2015 attacks will be held in Paris, Montrouge and Porte de Vincennes between January 7 and 9, 2021. The victims and families will be present among politicians and religious representatives.
The Charlie Hebdo attack
On January 7, 2015, an attack struck the premises of the satirical newspaper « Charli Hebdo », 10 rue Nicolas Appert in the 11th arrondissement of Paris.
At the end of the morning, around 11:30 am, the attackers Chérif and Saïd Kouachi entered the premises of Charlie Hebdo, armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles. They are hooded and shout « Allah Akbar. There are 11 victims, including 8 members of the newspaper’s editorial staff.
The victims are Frédéric Boisseau, operations manager of the Sodexo company responsible for maintaining the building, the 5 designers (Jean Cabut dit Cabu, Stéphane Charbonnier dit Charb, Philippe Honoré dit Honoré, Bernard Verlhac dit Tignous and Wolinski), the psychoanalyst Elsa Cayat, economist Bernard Maris dit Uncle Bernard, proofreader Mustapha Ourrad, Franck Brinsolaro, police officer in charge of the protection of Charb and Michel Renaud, co-founder of the « Rendez-vous du carnet de voyage » festival, invited to attend the conference drafting. There are also 4 injured (Simon Fieschi, webmaster; Philippe Lançon, journalist, columnist; Fabrice Nicolino, journalist, specialist in ecology; Laurent Sourisseau, known as RISS, editorial director and designer. There are also several survivors, the designer Corinne Rey, known as Coco; Jérémie Ganz and Laurent Léger.
In their escape, one of the attackers kills Bd Richard Lenoir, a peacekeeper, Ahmed Merabet. The final toll will be 12 dead and 11 injured, four of them seriously. The fugitives will be killed 2 days later by the GIGN, in Dammartin-en-Goële. They claimed to be al-Qaeda (AQPA), which then officially claimed responsibility for the attack.
Assassination of Clarissa Philippe
On January 8, Amedy Coulibaly, accomplice of the Kouachi brothers, assassinates Clarissa Jean-Philippe, municipal police officer in Montrouge.
Hostage-taking in a kosher convenience store
On January 9 at around 1 p.m., Amedy Coulibaly entered, heavily armed, a Hyper Cacher supermarket at Porte de Vincennes, in Paris. He targets the Jewish community and shoots 3 people as soon as they enter the store. He then takes all the customers and members of staff hostage, about twenty people, some of whom are hiding in the cold rooms in the basement. However, the wounded director manages to escape.
Later, the terrorist shoots a customer who was trying to grab a weapon. He then demands the release of the Kouachi brothers and claims to be affiliated with Daech. He threatens to kill all the hostages if the GIGN storms Dammartin-en-Goële
Finally, Coulibaly is shot down during the assault on the RAID and the BRI, practically at the same time as Dammartin. However, 2 members of them were injured.
Republican march
Following these terrorist actions where 17 people lost their lives, demonstrations or « Republican Marches » took place throughout France.
On January 11, 2015, « a White March » brought together 1.5 million people in Paris, including party leaders and 44 leaders from all countries. In nearly 265 French cities, no less than 1,000 people demonstrated. It was estimated that more than 4 million demonstrators totaled for January 10 and 11.
Were present in Paris: Ali Bongo, Viktor Orban, Sergei Lavrov (Russian Foreign Minister), Ahmet Davutoğlu (Turkish Prime Minister), Ramtane Lamamra (Algerian Minister of Foreign Affairs), Sameh Choukry (Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs), Boni Yayi or Abdallah II (King of Jordan).
However, no senior US official was present. John Kerry, United States Secretary of State, visited France the following week. He praised « France’s freedom of expression as an inspiration for the whole world ».
Numerous rallies of support have also taken place around the world, including 30,000 demonstrators in Montreal.
Commemorative plaques
A plaque commemorating the memory of the victims of Charlie Hebdo advocates on a wall of the former premises of the satirical newspaper. It helps to fight against freedom of expression. Another pays homage to Bd Richard Lenoir (75011), to the policeman Ahmed Merabet, who tried to stop the jihadists.
The city of Montrouge installed a plaque in memory of Clarissa Jean-Philippe. An alley bears his name in the square of Serment-de-Koufra (14th) since January 11, 2019.
On a wall of the Hyper Kosher, a plaque bears the names of the three customers and the employee killed, as well as their ages: Philippe Braham, 45, Yohan Cohen, 20, Yoav Hattab, 21, François-Michel Saada, 63 years old.
Exhibition in tribute to Cabu
The city of Paris organized a tribute to the cartoonist Cabu, who died on January 7, 2015 during the attack on Charlie Hebdo.
The exhibition « Le Rire de Cabu », at the Town Hall, Salle St Jean, shows more than 350 original drawings divided into 8 themes. We find there his favorite characters (La Grand Duduche, Beauf, Dorothée, Catherine, Adjutant Kronenbourg …) and his representation of France (society, consumption, women, young people, Paris, the cities). The presidents of Auriol to Macron, the « people » from Johnny to Zemmour, his essential masters and his old friends are also present without forgetting his fights (ecology, pacifism, freedom of expression) and his car, « La Trèfle ». We also discover a method to learn to draw like Cabu.
The scenography is signed Anne Levacher and Sylvie Coutant. Jean-François Pitet, expert in Cabu’s work, selected the drawings. He has been accompanying Véronique Cabut in the work of memory around her husband since his death.
The exhibition is currently closed, but a virtual tour is available. It was scheduled to resume from January 12 to February 13, 2021.
Terrorist threats in France
Since January 2015, the number of attacks has multiplied. The attack on the Bataclan and the Parisian terraces on November 13, 2015 in Paris was the bloodiest. July 14, 2016 in Nice followed. It was also the Catholic places of worship in St-Etienne-du-Rouvray, Notre-Dame and Villejuif. The other places targeted: an army base and military patrols, police officers, a train …
To respond to terrorism and radicalization, the government declared a state of emergency and the establishment of Operation Sentinel, mobilizing 7,000 soldiers in addition to the Vigipirate plan.
The latest jihadist actions
Terrorist actions particularly marked the second half of 2020. They coincide with the Charlie Hebdo trial and the reissue of the Muhammad cartoons. The « Islamists » have struck the city of Nice for the second time. This was also the case on September 25 in front of the former premises of Charlie Hebdo, then in Conflans Ste Honorine (78) with Professor Samuel Paty slaughtered.
In 2020, the government thwarted 2 Islamist attacks in France, a difficult fight in the face of the rise of fanaticism and terrorism.
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