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Two people were injured in a knife attack in central Paris. The incident took place today at noon near the old newsroom of the satirical magazine “Charlie Hebdo”, as Prime Minister Jean Castex said.
9:13 PM, September 25, 2020
Minister of the Interior of France Gerald darmanin described the knife attack near the former “Charlie Hebdo” editorial staff as an “act of Islamist terrorism.” There is little doubt that it will be another “bloody attack on our country,” he said on French television Friday night.
He also asked the police prefecture to verify why the threat on this street had been underestimated, even if the editorial office has not been based there for several years. The French news agency AFP also reported five other arrests, citing judicial circles. The men were arrested while searching an apartment in Pantin, near Paris. There are now seven suspects in police custody. At noon on Friday, two people were attacked and wounded with a knife in the vicinity of the former office of the satirical magazine “Charlie Hebdo”.
Terror shakes Paris
Sirens, closed streets, loud police calls: In Paris, after a long pause, the fear of terror returns. In front of the building where the satirical magazine “Charlie Hebdo” once had its editorial headquarters, two journalists were injured in a knife attack on Friday. Counterterrorism investigators have taken over the investigation. Police arrested two suspects.
According to police sources, one of the suspects is an 18-year-old Pakistani, reported the Europa 1 radio station. Knife found near Richard Lenoir subway station insured, which is apparently the murder weapon.
Attack during smoking break
The incident occurred around noon on Rue Nicolas Appert. An employee of the production company Premières Lignes, who works among other things for the France 2 channel, was injured in the attack. It is said that he just took a smoke break.
Two suspects were arrested a short time later near the crime scene. According to the prosecutor, one of them is said to be the main culprit. According to Prime Minister Jean Castex, the victims are not in danger of death. Meanwhile, the “Charlie Hebdo” newsroom has moved: in January 2015, eleven people were brutally murdered in the newsrooms.
France has been rocked by Islamist attacks for years – more than 250 people died. Therefore, people are almost always aware of the threat of terrorism. But the country is currently battling another demon: the corona virus. There are thousands of new infections every day and the situation is deteriorating markedly. Even if that has put the fear of terror in the background, about seven kilometers from the crime scene, something reminds of the danger almost every day.
The trial against the alleged assistants of the horror series in January 2015, in which a total of 17 people died, has been taking place there since the beginning of the month at the Palace of Justice. You can only enter the Crystal Palace under strict security conditions. When the trial began, Charlie Hebdo republished cartoons of Mohammed, and the publishers were again threatened. In an open letter, around a hundred French media outlets endorsed the satirical magazine and urged the people of the country to defend freedom of expression.
Prime Minister Castex rushed to the scene of the crime in the 11th arrondissement of Paris on Friday afternoon. He spoke of a “symbolic place”. “I would like to express my solidarity with the families of the victims and all the colleagues of these two journalists,” he said. He reiterated his “firm determination” to fight terrorism by all means. The editorial team of “Charlie Hebdo” also responded: “Charlie’s entire team supports and stands in solidarity with his former neighbors and colleagues.”
Thousands of students had to wait hours in schools as a precautionary measure after Friday’s attack. Parents were unable to pick up their little ones from the crib. Once again, an entire quarter of Paris was a restricted area: heavily armed security forces cordoned off the entire area in eastern Paris around the crime scene, and there were numerous emergency vehicles on the streets. “Merde, merde,” cursed an old woman who did not return home.
The authorities continue to rate the terrorist threat in the country as very high. Fighting terrorism has always been one of President Emmanuel Macron’s top priorities. In April, a man killed two people in Romans-sur-Isère, near Valence. In August, six French people were killed in a fatal attack in Niger: the Islamic State (IS) terrorist militia assumed responsibility for the crime.
And France is not just fighting terrorism in its own country: as a former colonial power, France is heavily involved in fighting Islamist militias in West Africa. The “Barkhane” counterterrorism mission was only increased to around 5,100 soldiers in February.
Producer involved in the documentary “Charlie”
The Paris-based production company, whose employees were injured in a knife attack, co-produced a documentary about the attacks on the “Charlie Hebdo” editorial team. “Three Days Of Terror: The Charlie Hebdo Attacks” is the name of the documentary that was produced for the US network HBO, the British BBC and the French channel France 2.
Witnesses, police officers and survivors speak in the film about the January 2015 horror series, in which a total of 17 people died over several days, according to the “Premières Lignes” website. The office of “Prémieres Lignes” is located in the immediate vicinity of the former editorial office of “Charlie Hebdo”, which was moved to a secret location after the attack. Two “Premières Lignes” employees were injured in a knife attack on Friday afternoon during a smoke break.
The attack was very traumatic for his company, but also for all the companies in the building, one of the agency’s bosses, Luc Hermann, told BFM TV. He heard screams in the street: people shut themselves in. The victims were a man and a woman, Hermann said. There are two “remarkable and committed employees.”
