France Honours Victims Of Charlie Hebdo Attack

France this week solemnly marks the anniversary of the Islamist assault on the Paris offices of the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, the first of two such deadly attacks which bookended a bloody 2015 of unprecedented violence in the French capital. Brothers Cherif & Stated Kouachi stormed the newspaper’s offices on January 7, 2015, killing 11 people at the beginning of three days of terror.

An unfortunate error – cartoonist Georges Wolinski’s name was spelt with a y instead of an i at the end – meant that the plaque will be covered up again until the mistake has been corrected – within 48 hours, the city council has promised. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said new plaque is being prepared, AFP reported.

The French president briefly met with some of the survivors of the attack inside the supermarket, including Lassana Bathily, a Mali-born employee of market who hid a group of hostages in the store’s underground stockroom.

Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said he was open to the idea of an investigation, but also defended the government’s efforts to ensure security and fight Islamic extremism.

Hollande will unveil another plaque on Saturday for police officer Clarissa Jean-Philippe, who died on January 8.

On Sunday, another, more public, ceremony will take place on the Place de la Republique, the square in eastern Paris which attracted mass rallies in favour of free speech and democratic values after the attacks and became an informal memorial.

In its anniversary edition, Charlie Hebdo accuses Islamic fundamentalists, organised religion, an irresolute government and intelligence failures for the violence in France in 2015. The special issue will also include drawings by the killed cartoonists: Cabu, Wolinski, Charb, Tignous, and Honoré.

The widow of a bodyguard killed at Charlie Hebdo said on RTL radio Tuesday that she wants an investigation into security measures at the paper.

Families of victims joined Hollande and other dignitaries on Tuesday near the Charlie Hebdo office to reveal a plaque to commemorate the attack in which 11 people died.