Paris Manhunt for Murders Continues
PARIS – The City of Paris and surrounding regions in France are at a heightened alert level as a manhunt continues for two men suspected of being the murderers at the Charlie Hebdo offices in the city on Wednesday. Ten people were murdered and another eleven wounded, four are in critical condition from the attack on the offices of the magazine.
The Prime Minister has decided to raise the level Vigipirate or “attack alert”, the highest level over the whole of the Ile- de- France region after the attack against Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday morning. The police have launched an appeal for witnesses to find the two suspects.
Due to the events that took place in the offices of Charlie Hebdo, Vigipirate happened at “attack alert” in Paris and the Ile-de- France.
Charlie Hebdo Takes Worldwide Stage
The reach of the cartoon images published in the Charlie Hebdo magazine has grown massively over the now twenty-four hours since the attack happened. Individuals around the world have been posting the images to social media in massive numbers.
The next issue of the Charlie Hebdo is expected to be sold out, with a projected one million copies as people are expected to want to have a copy to show their support.
On Friday, the Mayor of Paris is chairing a special meeting of the City Council to make Charlie Hebdo an honorary citizen of Paris.
In Canada, vigils were held in Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, and Calgary on Wednesday night to mark solidarity with the victims and with France.
It is likely that if the goal of the attackers was to silence Charlie Hebdo, their goal has failed. Millions of people world-wide who likely had never heard of the French magazine are now standing in solidarity with the freedom of expression and the right to free speech.
In response to today’s shocking attack on the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo that cost 12 lives, Reporters Without Borders issues an international appeal to media editors to begin publishing Charlie Hebdo’s cartoons tomorrow.
Renowned worldwide for its irreverent cartoons, Charlie Hebdo has always put its fight for freedom of information first. And now its staff has been decimated by an unspeakable act of violence that targets the entire press. Journalism as whole is in mourning.
But freedom of information cannot shrink in the face of barbarity and yield to blackmail by those who assail out democracy and what our republic stands for. In the name of all those who have fallen in the defence of fundamental values, let us continue Charlie Hebdo’s fight for free information.
By making this appeal, Reporters Without Borders is expressing its deepest solidarity with Charlie Hebdo.
Perhaps it is a little like after the attack on Pearl Harbour on December 7 1941. Japanese Commander Yamamoto said, “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.”
