Delivering Another Message of Indelibly Violent Hatred in Paris

A victim being treated  EVN David Cohen

"Two colleagues were smoking a cigarette outside the building, in the street. I heard shouting."

"I went to the window and saw one of my colleagues, covered in blood, being chased by a man with a machete in the street."

Staff member, Premières Lignes production firm

 

"Through this highly symbolic place, it is once again freedom of expression that is targeted." 

"We must remain vigilant and mobilized to defend this pillar of our Republic and protect our citizens."

Anne Hidalgo, Paris Mayor

 

"The government is ... determined with all its means to fight terrorism."

"[The attack took place at a] symbolic place [coinciding with the start of the trial of 14 Islamist accomplices in the 2015 attack on the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo]."

Prime Minister Jean Castex

"Once again, hatred, gratuitous hatred. I was here five  years ago."

"Five years later, we're here again. I don't know when this is going to end."

Dr.Nathan Messas, resident, 11th arrondissement, eastern Paris

 

"It's somebody who was in the road with a meat cleaver who attacked them in front of our offices."

"[Two of my colleagues wounded]. It was chilling."

Paul Moreira, journalist, Premieres Lignes

The public has been told to avoid the area in Paris's 11th arrondissement  Reuters

Friday, close to the former offices of the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine saw an Islamist terrorist strike again, stabbing two journalists, in an echo of the 2015 attack that killed twelve people and injured another 11. The main attacker, an 18-year-old man of Pakistani origin is under arrest. The two people he attacked were treated for their injuries and will survive the attack. Another person, an Algerian, was placed in custody soon after the attack. Further investigation led to the arrest of an additional six people as accomplices.

Witnesses reported seeing a meat cleaver or butcher's knife used as the attacking weapon. A local resident spoke of hearing a long, deathly shout from "a person who was screaming and screaming".

Another neighbour saw people with a wounded woman, bundling her into a building housing a news agency. Outside, the ground was covered with blood. Workers who had been repairing the road informed that "a dark-skinned man randomly hit a lady with a big butcher's knife".

The attack had taken place adjacent to a mural placed in memory of the victims of the 2015 deadly Charlie Hebdo attack. The weapon, seen to be a meat cleaver covered in blood, was discovered on the ground close to a metro station near the Boulevard Richard-Lenoir. The main suspect had been arrested by the metro station; easily identifiable since he was covered in blood. A man known previously to security services. 

The trial of those associated with the 2015 attack at the Charlie Hebdo offices saw the court hearing that all 14 on trial had acted for the purpose of avenging the Prophet Mohammad. This conspiratorial act of terrorism took place ten years following the publication of cartoons mocking Mohammad by the satirical magazine. Al-Qaeda at the time had claimed responsibility for the 2015 attack, and threatened to replay the scenario, when the magazine had once again published the cartoons in September 2020.

 

At the trial the defendants are facing accusations of having aided another jihadist in his terrorism attack where he shot a policewoman dead, and followed that up by attacking a Jewish market, killing four people in the process. It was over a period of three days of violence that the entire 17 victims were killed by the three attackers who were themselves killed by police. Those chilling killing episodes were just the start of a wave of jihadist attacks to strike across France, ultimately leaving over 250 people dead.

That last threat by al-Qaeda, to return to new attacks after Charlie Hebdo had re-published the Mohammad cartoons when the current trial began, led to police moving the head of human resources for Charlie Hebdo from her home this week, following threats received against her life.

 

Heavily-armed police quickly sealed off the area   Reuters