Using the hashtage #JeSuisCharlie, many on Twitter replaced their profile photo with a white-on-black image of the phrase, which translates to “I am Charlie.”
It’s the phrase that appeared on the Charlie Hebdo website, which linked to a file showing the same phrase repeated in several languages.
Cartoonists and other artists tweeted images that summed up the outrage felt over the attack. One, by The Canberra Times’ political cartoonist David Pope, shows a smoking gun, with a gunmen saying, “He drew first.”
Pope said he sketched the image at 2 a.m. before he went to bed. “I was trying to express an emotional response,” he told CNN. “I’m not trying to make a cheap joke out of it, just trying to express something that hopefully other people are also feeling.”
He said the rights of cartoonists must be defended. “As a cartoonist you are always pushing that line and they pushed it very hard. (But) nothing justified the violent events that happened last night.”
Can't sleep tonight, thoughts with my French cartooning colleagues, their families and loved ones #CharlieHebdo pic.twitter.com/LqIMRCHPgK
It was shared tens of thousands of times, as were others that depicted the strength of the pencil versus the gun.
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Instagram was also buzzing with shows of support for the magazine.
Bénédicte Huot, who lives in La Seyne-sur-Mer, France, shared a tribute as part of the JeSuisCharlie movement on the site. “Today, liberty is very fragile, but for me liberty is the one,” he said.
#JeSuisCharlie .. Still can't believe what happened in my city. pic.twitter.com/1GFv5ItZAZ
Some tweeted “JeSuisCharlie” with photos of four of the victims, cartoonists for the magazine.
A small number of users wrote in support of the mass killings. One called it a defense of his religion. Another wrote it was a response to cartoon depictions of the Prophet Mohammed and said people couldn’t remain silent.
They used the hashtags that CNN translated to #We_Avenged_the_Prophet _of_God and #Paris_Is_Burning.
CNN’s Samira Said contributed to this report.
