A picture of French journalists on the roof of Charlie Hebdo’s offices sounded the first alarm.
They had taken shelter from three armed men who had just opened fire against their colleagues during the weekly satirical newspaper’s editorial committee.
Events unfolded very rapidly from then on. French President François Hollande was very quick on the scene, the terrorist nature of the events was confirmed almost immediately and so was the shocking number of casualties: 12 dead and 11 injured, some critically. The operation appeared to have been prepared in a military style with weapons of war.
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Today, a French imam called the dead journalists and cartoonists of Charlie Hebdo “martyrs of freedom.”
But France may have also discovered the price of its complacency and learned that such Fraternité should never be taken for granted.
Charlie Hebdo: Satirical magazine is no stranger to controversy
