On January 7, 8 and 9, 2015, Islamist attacks left the streets of Paris bloody. From the former headquarters of the satirical newspaper to the Hyper Cacher, return to the places marked by these terrible days.
January 7, 8, 9, 2025: look back at a deadly journey
Paris, but above all the press and freedom of expression hit by religious fundamentalism: Wednesday January 7, 2015two men, the Kouachi brothers, heavily armed attacked the satirical newspaper “Charlie Hebdo”, shouting “Allah akbar”, killing 12 people including the cartoonists Cabu, Charb, Tignous, Honoré and Wolinski, in the most serious attack in France for more than half a century.
The next day, either January 8a shooting took place in Montrouge, a municipal police officer was killed and a road worker injured.
It is a close friend of the Kouachi brothers, Amedy Coulibaly, who is the author of the facts. January 9this same accomplice held hostage customers of a Hypercasher, located in Porte de Vincennes. Claiming to act in the name of Daesh, this terrorist targeted people of the Jewish faith and expressed his solidarity with the terrorists who targeted “Charlie Hebdo”. Four people were killed.
Heavy shootings, police officer executed at close range, bullet holes, shell casings on the ground, “seas of blood” in the headquarters of the weekly “Charlie Hebdo”: witnesses to the attack tell “madness in the heart of Paris”. The designer Corinne Rey, known as “Coco”, one of the survivors of the killing of January 7, 2025, perpetrated at the headquarters of the satirical weekly, who was going to pick up her daughter from school, delivers a chilling story.
“I entered the code…”
“When we arrived at the door of the newspaper building, two hooded and armed men brutally threatened us” pour “to enter, to go up”. “I typed in the code” Then “they shot Wolinski, Cabu… It lasted five minutes”says “Coco”, who then “refugee under a desk”. “They spoke French perfectly” et “claimed to be Al-Qaeda”she specifies.
In the offices of the weekly, there is carnage. At least twelve people died, including the cartoonists Charb, Wolinski, Cabu, Honoré and Tignous, as well as the economist and columnist Bernard Maris. Eleven others were injured, four of them seriously. “They were hooded, with Kalashnikov or M16 type weapons”describes a neighbor, who judged the attackers “serious” to the point of thinking that “They were special forces chasing drug traffickers”.
Arnaud Gancel, who works on a perpendicular street, is upset: “We saw the exchange (of fire) with the cops, when they came out they machine-gunned the front of the police car which backed up, backed up, backed up. One of our colleagues heard shouting 'We avenged the prophet”.”
Spontaneous gatherings
In the evening, spontaneous gatherings took place across the four corners of France. Despite the Vigipirate plan raised to “attack alert”, the highest level, in Île-de-France, there were more than 35,000 in Paris, between 13 and 15,000 in Rennes, between 10 and 15,000 in Lyon, 10 000 in Toulouse, 7,000 in Marseille and 5,000 in Nantes, Grenoble and Bordeaux… Come to say often, like Philippe Fertray, a faithful reader: “Charlie Hebdo is freedom of expression, if it doesn’t please God, too bad.”
A strong mobilization also in Aveyron
In Aveyron too, many candles were lit on window sills, in front of town halls or the prefecture. Several dozen spontaneous gatherings will take place across the department. Until Sunday which will break all records. Some 17,000 people went up Avenue Victor-Hugo to reach Place d'Armes, too narrow to accommodate all this motley crowd. A crowd that stretched out onto the adjacent boulevards. All there for a minute of silence, to say no to violence and barbarity. To say yes to freedom.
“Charlies” of all ages, from all backgrounds, of all faiths. More generally, in Villefranche-de-Rouergue, nearly 5,000 people gathered for a silent march, more than 1,600 in Decazeville, in Capdenac with 1,200 people and in many other towns and villages in the department.
Everyone there to pay tribute to the 17 dead in the Charlie Hebdo and Hypercasher attacks.
The shock wave spread from Paris to Aveyron, passing through all the localities in France and abroad as well, reacting viscerally to those who shouted: “We killed Charlie Hebdo”thus proving that nothing could silence freedom of expression but that the price to pay to make it heard could sometimes be very expensive. Too expensive. Even today, despite the years that have passed, the tributes will multiply. Not only so as not to forget but also to call for the most extreme vigilance.
