View all newsletters
Sign up to our newsletters

Support 110 years of independent journalism.

  1. World
7 January 2015updated 09 Sep 2021 1:51pm

Murderous outrage in Paris as Charlie Hebdo, the magazine that mocked Mohammed, is attacked

Reports have 12 killed at Paris offices by men with automatic rifles.

By New Statesman

This week’s New Statesman leader:

The attack on 7 January by two gunmen on the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris, in which at least 12 people died, was an attack on liberalism, free speech and a free press. The journalists of Charlie Hebdo are wilful, anti-establishment provocateurs, much in the style of our own Private Eye, with its traditions of Tory anarchism. Yet Charlie Hebdo is more explicitly political. Above all, it is against religion, and has bravely mocked Islam and Islamism.

As we went to press, there were reports that the gunmen, who were carrying a Kalashnikov and a rocket launcher, shouted that “we have avenged the Prophet”. Shortly before the attack Charlie Hebdo tweeted a cartoon of the Islamic State militant group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. And in 2011 it published a special issue of the magazine, “Charia Hebdo”, for which the Prophet Muhammad was named as “editor-in-chief”. A cartoon of the Prophet was published on the front cover. As a result, the magazine was firebombed. Religious fundamentalism of all forms is a malign force in the world: all secularists and liberals, as well as the moderately devout, must resist it.

News updates:

Men wielding automatic rifles have stormed the offices of Charlie Hebdo, killing at least 11 people, reports Reuters. Four more people, at least one of whom is a police officer, are in critical condition.

Select and enter your email address Your weekly guide to the best writing on ideas, politics, books and culture every Saturday. The best way to sign up for The Saturday Read is via saturdayread.substack.com The New Statesman's quick and essential guide to the news and politics of the day. The best way to sign up for Morning Call is via morningcall.substack.com Our Thursday ideas newsletter, delving into philosophy, criticism, and intellectual history. The best way to sign up for The Salvo is via thesalvo.substack.com Stay up to date with NS events, subscription offers & updates. Weekly analysis of the shift to a new economy from the New Statesman's Spotlight on Policy team. The best way to sign up for The Green Transition is via spotlightonpolicy.substack.com
  • Administration / Office
  • Arts and Culture
  • Board Member
  • Business / Corporate Services
  • Client / Customer Services
  • Communications
  • Construction, Works, Engineering
  • Education, Curriculum and Teaching
  • Environment, Conservation and NRM
  • Facility / Grounds Management and Maintenance
  • Finance Management
  • Health - Medical and Nursing Management
  • HR, Training and Organisational Development
  • Information and Communications Technology
  • Information Services, Statistics, Records, Archives
  • Infrastructure Management - Transport, Utilities
  • Legal Officers and Practitioners
  • Librarians and Library Management
  • Management
  • Marketing
  • OH&S, Risk Management
  • Operations Management
  • Planning, Policy, Strategy
  • Printing, Design, Publishing, Web
  • Projects, Programs and Advisors
  • Property, Assets and Fleet Management
  • Public Relations and Media
  • Purchasing and Procurement
  • Quality Management
  • Science and Technical Research and Development
  • Security and Law Enforcement
  • Service Delivery
  • Sport and Recreation
  • Travel, Accommodation, Tourism
  • Wellbeing, Community / Social Services
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
THANK YOU

Witnesses report hearing “40-50” shots, according to a tweet by French journalist Mathieu Magnaudeix. A representative of the SBP police union, Luc Poignant, has said that the attackers escaped the scene in two vehicles. Video of the attack was captured by some witnesses:

Video: FranceTV

Charlie Hebdo is a generally left-wing magazine with an anti-authoritarian and anti-religious stance. Its offices were previously firebombed on 2 November 2011, the day before an issue naming the Muslim prophet Muhammad as guest editor-in-chief was due to be published.

French president François Hollande, and other politicians, arrived at the scene shortly afterwards. He called the shooting a “terror attack”, and said that several other attacks had been “thwarted in recent weeks”. An emergency cabinet meeting has been called for 2pm today, and the offices of other Paris-based newspapers have reportedly been put under police protection.

Hollande also tweeted:

(Translation: “There is no barbaric act that will ever extinguish the freedom of the press. We are a united country which will respond.”)

Content from our partners
The promise of prevention
How Labour hopes to make the UK a leader in green energy
Is now the time to rethink health and care for older people? With Age UK

Select and enter your email address Your weekly guide to the best writing on ideas, politics, books and culture every Saturday. The best way to sign up for The Saturday Read is via saturdayread.substack.com The New Statesman's quick and essential guide to the news and politics of the day. The best way to sign up for Morning Call is via morningcall.substack.com Our Thursday ideas newsletter, delving into philosophy, criticism, and intellectual history. The best way to sign up for The Salvo is via thesalvo.substack.com Stay up to date with NS events, subscription offers & updates. Weekly analysis of the shift to a new economy from the New Statesman's Spotlight on Policy team. The best way to sign up for The Green Transition is via spotlightonpolicy.substack.com
  • Administration / Office
  • Arts and Culture
  • Board Member
  • Business / Corporate Services
  • Client / Customer Services
  • Communications
  • Construction, Works, Engineering
  • Education, Curriculum and Teaching
  • Environment, Conservation and NRM
  • Facility / Grounds Management and Maintenance
  • Finance Management
  • Health - Medical and Nursing Management
  • HR, Training and Organisational Development
  • Information and Communications Technology
  • Information Services, Statistics, Records, Archives
  • Infrastructure Management - Transport, Utilities
  • Legal Officers and Practitioners
  • Librarians and Library Management
  • Management
  • Marketing
  • OH&S, Risk Management
  • Operations Management
  • Planning, Policy, Strategy
  • Printing, Design, Publishing, Web
  • Projects, Programs and Advisors
  • Property, Assets and Fleet Management
  • Public Relations and Media
  • Purchasing and Procurement
  • Quality Management
  • Science and Technical Research and Development
  • Security and Law Enforcement
  • Service Delivery
  • Sport and Recreation
  • Travel, Accommodation, Tourism
  • Wellbeing, Community / Social Services
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
THANK YOU