Sunday, 11 January 2015

Charlie Hebdo attacks: Vast Paris rally to take place

BBC News
Huge crowds and some 40 world leaders have gathered in Paris for a unity march after 17 people were killed during three days of deadly attacks.
More than a million marchers are expected to take the streets.
Police are seeking accomplices of the gunmen who attacked satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket.
Ahead of the rally, a video emerged appearing to show supermarket gunman Amedy Coulibaly pledging allegiance to militant group Islamic State.
In the video, he said he was working with the Charlie Hebdo attackers: "We have split our team into two... to increase the impact of our actions."
Said and Cherif Kouachi - who were shot dead by police on Friday - killed 11 people at the magazine offices in the French capital on Wednesday, and a policeman in a nearby street.
This screengrab taken on 11 January 2015 from a video released on Islamist social networks shows a man claiming to be Amedy Coulibaly
The video appears to show Amedy Coulibaly explaining his motivation for his attacks
Coulibaly killed four hostages seized at the Hyper Cacher supermarket on Friday before being shot dead by police.
He is also believed to have shot dead a policewoman in Montrouge on Thursday, and has now been linked by prosecutors to the non-fatal shooting of a 32-year-old jogger in a park in Fontenay-les-Roses, in south-west Paris, on Wednesday.
His partner, Hayat Boumeddiene, is still wanted by police - although she is thought to have fled France last week. Officials believe she may have entered Turkey en route to Syria.
Jewish security raised
Sunday's Paris rally is expected to dwarf marches across France on Saturday, when 700,000 people took to the streets.
French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve: ''France has received countless expressions of solidarity from all over the world''
About 2,000 police officers and 1,350 soldiers - including elite marksmen on rooftops - have been deployed to protect those taking part.
line
At the scene - Patrick Jackson, BBC News
A human tide is flowing steadily along streets shut to traffic into the Place de la Republique, one of the starting points for the March.
Everywhere is the slogan "Je suis Charlie" ("I am Charlie"): on homemade placards, on armbands, on T-shirts. A family marches four abreast holding up print-outs in plastic sleeves.
And there are flags too: full-sized French tricolores carried by demonstrators, the colours of the Republic on the Square of the Republic.
They are waved from the tiers of the iconic Republic monument, where demonstrators are perched on the giant statues symbolising the old, but so vital for this nation now, values of liberty, equality and fraternity.
line
After a meeting with Francois Hollande at the Elysee Palace on Sunday, leaders from France's Jewish community said the president had told them new security measures would be put in place at all Jewish institutions over the next two days.
"We have decided to live our Judaism and we will continue to live normally, as we can't give in to violence", said Roger Cukierman, President of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions.
Yohan Cohen, Philippe Braham, Yoav Hattab and Francois-Michel Saada
Yohan Cohen, Philippe Braham, Yoav Hattab and Francois-Michel Saada were killed at the supermarket
Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve says France will stay on high alert in the coming weeks.
He will host a meeting on Sunday morning of fellow interior ministers from across Europe, including the UK's Theresa May, to discuss the threat posed by militants.
Mr Cazeneuve promised "exceptional measures" for the massive unity march in Paris on Sunday, including positioning snipers on roofs.
Foreign leaders expected to attend the rally include UK Prime Minister David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The march, which will be led by relatives of the victims of last week's attacks, will leave Place de la Republique at 15:00 local time (14:00 GMT).
President Hollande greeted dignitaries including Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas at the Elysee Palace
Organisers hope it will offer France the chance to unite against the violence that began on Wednesday when two brothers raided the offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
Stories have been emerging of how ordinary people caught up in the attacks defied the gunmen.
At the supermarket, one Muslim employee hid shoppers in a cold storage room, while the manager of the printworks seized by the Kouachi brothers managed to hide another employee for hours.
In the wake of the attacks, police detained people believed to be connected to the killers - including family members.
Cherif Kouachi's brother-in-law, named as Mourad Hamyd, reportedly handed himself in to police but was released without charge and denounced the violence on Sunday. "
"This attack is horrific - a horrible crime", he told AFP news agency.
Elsewhere, there has been an arson attack at the offices of a German newspaper that reprinted Charlie Hebdo cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.
No-one was hurt in the assault on the Hamburger Morgenpost in the early hours of Sunday. Two men have been arrested.
line
How the attacks unfolded (all times GMT)
Map of Paris showing the locations of three deadly attacks in January 2015
  • Wednesday 7 January 10:30 - Two masked gunmen enter Charlie Hebdo offices, killing 12 people, including the magazine's editor. Shortly after the attack, the gunmen kill a police officer nearby.
  • 11:00 - Police lose track of the men after they abandon their getaway car and hijack another vehicle. They are later identified as brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi.
  • Thursday 8 January 08:45 -A lone gunman shoots dead a policewoman and injures a man in the south of Paris. Gunman later identified as Amedy Coulibaly.
  • 10:30 - The Kouachi brothers rob a service station near Villers-Cotterets, in the Aisne region, but disappear again.
  • Friday 9 January 08:30 - Police exchange gunfire with the Kouachi brothers during a car chase on the National 2 highway northeast of Paris.
  • 10:00 - Police surround the brothers at an industrial building in at Dammartin-en-Goele, 35km (22 miles) from Paris.
  • 12:15 - Coulibaly reappears and takes several people hostage at a kosher supermarket in eastern Paris. Heavily-armed police arrive and surround the store.
  • 16:00 - Kouachi brothers come out of the warehouse, firing at police. They are both shot dead.
  • 16:15 - Police storm the kosher supermarket in Paris, killing Coulibaly and rescuing 15 hostages. The bodies of four hostages are recovered.

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