France honors victims of Charlie Hebdo attacks

“Thousands gather for a candle light vigil on Place de la Republique in central Paris, hours after the attack by two gunmen on the ‘Charly Hebdo” headquarters in Paris, France, 07 January 2015.

A police vehicle in northern Paris on Thursday, after police shot dead a man who attempted to attack a police station.

The ruling came a day after a Paris court handed a 15-year sentence – also in absentia – to key French IS member Salim Benghalem, who had ties to the Charlie Hebdo attackers. It did not elaborate on the claim of responsibility.

Investigations identified the man as 20 year old Sallah Ali, a prominent thief born homeless in Casablanca, Morocco, according to the French newspaper L’Express.

Hollande said that since the attack on Charlie Hebdo, almost 200 people in France had been placed under travel restrictions to prevent them joining up with I.S.in Syria or Iraq.

After presiding over Sunday’s ceremony, French President Francois Hollande made an unannounced visit to the main Paris mosque for “a moment of friendship and fraternity over a cup of tea”, a presidency official said.

A Paris police official said police were investigating the incident at the Paris police station as “more likely terrorism” than a standard criminal act.

France’s President François Holland presided over events today at Place de la République, to mark the first anniversary of the deadly assaults in Paris at the offices of a satirical magazine and a kosher supermarket. Most controversial is Hollande’s call for stripping convicted terrorists of their French nationality, which has drawn outcries from rights groups and has deeply split the left.

“We are facing an extremely high level of threat, higher than it has ever been”, Mr Cazeneuve said.

“We must be able to force these people -and only these people- to fulfill certain obligations and if necessary to put them under house arrest… because they are risky”, he said.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry noted that solidarity on Thursday.

Belgian prosecutors on Friday revealed new details about the biggest mystery in the Paris attacks: What happened to fugitive Salah Abdeslam after he ditched his auto and explosive vest?

“If we were safe, things like this wouldn’t happen”, she said.

The initiative comes following the Charlie Hebdo killings in Paris.

“This past year we’ve had to invest [about $2.2 million] to secure our office, which is an enormous sum”, he said.