Friends and family of the Charlie Hebdo victims gathered with French President Francois Hollande Tuesday to commemorate the first anniversary of the Islamic terrorist massacre that killed 17 people.
Hollande, joined by Prime Minister Manuel Valls and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, unveiled plaques honoring the victims. Three plaques were laid in total, one at the Charlie Hebdo offices where 12 were murdered, one at the kosher supermarket where four people were killed and another at the spot where a Paris police officer was murdered.
Charlie Hebdo is a niche satirical magazine the Kourachi brothers, two radical Islamic terrorists, attacked in January 2014. Though many of Hebdo’s staff died in the attacks, the magazine is now well known one year later, and continues to operate. To honor its victims, the magazine has printed one million copies of a special memorial edition issue that will be released Wednesday.
“Many hoped that one day someone would come put us in our places,” said Laurent Sourisseau, the magazine’s director, speaking to NBC, “yes, many hoped that we would be killed.”
Charlie Hebdo staff are known provocateurs who often draw cartoons about religion, including drawing pictures of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. The Kourachi brothers attacked the magazine’s office as a response to the drawings, claiming to be acting in the name of al-Qaida in Yemen.
Rct #CharlieHebdo "If Muhammad Returned"…"But I'm the prophet you idiot!"…"Shut up infidel" pic.twitter.com/iLHQwwQjhz
— Arik Hesseldahl (@ahess247) January 7, 2015
Charlie Hebdo's Nov 2011 CHARIA HEBDO "guest-edited" by Muhammad:"100 lashes of the whip if you don't die laughing." pic.twitter.com/5EzG448CNm
— cecilia udden (@ceciliauddenm) January 7, 2015
Just days after the Hebdo attacks, Amedy Coulibaly murdered a French police officer and killed four people during his attack on a kosher super market in Paris. Coulibaly apparently coordinated his attacks with the Kourachi brothers. (RELATED: French Jews Must Live Under Armed Guard To Ensure Safety)
The commemoration of the victims comes as France continues to mourn the 130 people killed during a coordinated Islamic State attack in Paris in November of last year.
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