The hashtag #JeSuisCharlie”I am Charlie”became an international rallying point for people expressing solidarity with the victims of the slaughter carried out by gunmen at the offices of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday.
But another hashtag, #JeSuisAhmed, has become a poignant way of honoring Ahmed Merabet, a 40-year-old police officer who was killed by the terrorists.
During the massacre at the Charlie Hebdo offices, the gunmen claimed that they were avenging the Prophet Mohammed by attacking a magazine that had repeatedly lampooned Islam and other religions.
But by killing Merabet, they took the life of a man who was reported to be a Muslim. Like the parents of the two main suspects in the attack, Merabet’s mother and father are believed to have moved to Paris from North Africa.
‘I died defending his right’
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Le Figaro reported that the police officer had just got married to a woman with whom he had a 1-year-old daughter.
“The whole of France needs to take action,” said Brinsolaro’s twin brother, Philippe, according to the newspaper. “You can’t attack freedom of expression and the authority of the state like that.”
On social media, Franck Brinsolaro, like Ahmed and the staff of Charlie, was also being remembered — through the hashtag #JeSuisFranck.
#jesuisfranck tombé en faisant mon métier auprès de #jesuischarlie Portrait en Der de @OuestFrance #charliehebdo pic.twitter.com/5KAM0vjA1o
CNN’s Randi Kaye contributed to this report.
