January 23, 2015

The latest issue of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, which included yet another caricature of the Prophet Muhammad, sparked violent protests in Africa and the Middle East this week. In Niger, authorities reported that 10 people were killed and some 170 others injured in Muslim attacks on Christians. Demonstrators burned Bibles and torched churches and the homes of Christians. In the Jordanian capital Amman, some 2,000 demonstrators, organized by the Muslim Brotherhood, clashed as they marched on the French embassy, protesting against the latest issue of Charlie Hebdo. In Gaza, an estimated 200 radical Islamists protested outside the French cultural center in Gaza City, chanting “Leave Gaza, you French, or we will slaughter you by cutting your throats.” In Karachi, Pakistan, police used tear gas and turned water cannons on protesters outside the French consulate.

On January 7, two brothers, armed with assault rifles, attacked the Paris office of the magazine Charlie Hebdo and killed 12 people. The attackers were heard shouting, “We have avenged the Prophet Muhammad” and “God is Great” in Arabic as they fled the scene of the crime. French President Francois Hollande described the massacre as a terrorist attack “of exceptional barbarity.” The satirical weekly was firebombed in November 2011, one day after it ran a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad.

January 12, 2015

An estimated 4 million people packed the streets of Paris and other French cities yesterday to honor the 17 victims of  deadly attacks by Islamic jihadists in France last week and to call for an end to terrorism. Some 40 presidents and prime ministers, including French President François Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, joined the demonstration in Paris. The United States was represented by Ambassador to France Jane Hartley.

An estimated 1.6 million people gather at Republique Square in Paris on January 11 for a rally to honor victims of last week’s terrorist attacks in France and to protest extremism. (AP Photo)

The victims of the attacks included 12 people shot to death on January 7 at the Paris office of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo; a female police officer gunned down in the Paris suburb of Montrouge on January 8; and 4 Jews shot to death at a kosher Paris supermarket on January 9. Many people participating in the demonstration carried signs that said “Je suis Charlie” (I am Charlie) to show their support for freedom of speech and religious tolerance. Similar demonstrations were held in other cities across the world as well as in the United States.

On January 9, French police killed two brothers–Said and Cherif Kouachi–believed to have carried out the attack on Charlie Hebdo. During the attack, the Kouachis were heard shouting, “We have avenged the Prophet Muhammad” and “God is Great” in Arabic as they fled the scene of the crime. The satirical weekly had earlier run caricatures of the prophet. Also on January 9, police killed an associate of the brothers, Amedy Coulibaly, who was holed up in the supermarket. Coulibaly has been linked to the murder of the police officer.

Today, the French government deployed some 10,000 military troops at Jewish schools, synagogues and “other sensitive sites” in France in the largest deployment of military forces for civilian protection in that country’s history. French officials also ordered some 4,700 police officers to guard the country’s 700 Jewish schools and other institutions. On Saturday, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls declared that France was at war with radical Islam. “It is a war against terrorism, against jihadism, against radical Islam, against everything that is aimed at breaking fraternity, freedom, solidarity,” he said during a speech.