France remembers Charlie Hebdo victims on fifth anniversary

Paris, France – France has marked five years since the attack on Charlie Hebdo, in which 12 people were killed, including nine of the French satirical magazine’s staff members.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo was on Tuesday joined by several government ministers and former French President Francois Hollande, who was in office at the time of the attack.

“There is no negotiation on freedom,” Hollande told French radio station France Culture Tuesday morning. “It is hate that must be condemned, not laughter.”

Around 50 people attended the commemoration at the magazine’s old headquarters in the 11th arrondissement, including staff who survived the assault.

Together they sang the Marseillaise – the national anthem – followed by a minute of silence.

“It was a very powerful moment of solidarity,” 59-year-old Danielle Klein, who was in attendance, told Al Jazeera.

The attack was staged by two French brothers, Said and Cherif Kouachi, who broke into the magazine’s headquarters the morning of January 7, 2015 during an editorial meeting.

They said the attack was an act of revenge on the magazine for publishing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. 

In total they killed nine staff members, including the magazine’s editorial director Stephane Charbonnier, who had already been under police protection due to earlier threats.

“We avenged the Prophet Muhammad. We killed Charlie Hebdo!”, they shouted as they ran onto the street. They then killed a police officer, Ahmet Merabet, who tried to stop them, before fleeing the scene.

In the following days, there were two more attacks by an accomplice, Amedy Coulibaly, who was suspected of taking hostages in a kosher supermarket and killing four people.

He was also accused of killing a police officer in the Paris suburb of Montrouge.

Three days after their initial escape, the Kouachi brothers were killed by police at a print factory near the Charles de Gaulle Airport. Coulibaly, who claimed allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS), was killed by police inside the kosher supermarket that he took hostage. The bloodshed left 17 victims and the three fighters dead.

Eric Guerssonier, a 64-year-old who witnessed the Montrouge attack, said: “I’ll never be able to forget that moment.”

He attends the memorial services every year

“But it’s something I think that also united us. We all became Charlie.”

In 2015, the events prompted a rally of solidarity in the French capital, which drew more than four million people, many holding signs with the slogan “I Am Charlie.”

Then, Hollande was joined by 60 world leaders, including German chancellor Angela Merkel, UK Prime Minister David Cameron, Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.

The magazine, which was struggling with a circulation of around 40,000 just before the attack, saw its readership soar to more than 300,000 in the aftermath of events. It September 2015, it moved to a high-security headquarters in southern Paris.

Laurent “Riss” Sourisseau, Charlie Hebdo’s top editor who was wounded in the attack, told French radio on Tuesday: “Charlie Hebdo is still here. Still standing and just as determined. We never stopped laughing because that’s part of life.” 

The latest issue is dedicated to censorship. 

The anniversary comes as prosecutors are preparing for the trials of 14 people suspected of having provided logistical support to the Kouachi brothers and Amedy Coulibaly.

They have been charged with funding terrorism, membership of a terrorist organisation and providing the attackers with weapons. The trial will begin in early May.