“This massacre is not possible.” On January 7, 2015, 10 years ago, all of Brittany was Charlie

On January 7, 2015, two terrorists opened fire in the Charlie Hebdo newsroom. Twelve people were shot. The same day, thousands of people gathered everywhere. Some put down a lit candle, a pencil, a drawing, a few words. Find these powerful images.

Their names were Cabu, Charb, Tignous, Wolinski, Honoré, Bernard Maris, Elsa Cayat and Mustapha Ourrad. All worked on the editorial staff of Charlie Hebdo. Franck Brinsolaro was a police officer, in charge of protecting Charb, Michel Renaud had come to return drawings to Cabu. Frédéric Boisseau was responsible for maintenance in the building and Ahmed Merabet, a police officer, was also murdered in front of the newspaper while trying to prevent the killers from escaping. All died on January 7, 2015 in just a few minutes.

That same morning, number 1177 of the satirical journal created in 1970 by Cavanna and Professor Choron and relaunched in 1992 by Cabu, contained one of Charb’s latest drawings: “Still no attack in France”. Il shows a Islamist armed explaining “Wait ! We have until the end of January to present our wishes…”

In 2006, Charlie decided to publish the twelve caricatures of Mohammed that appeared in a Danish newspaper. On the cover Cabu had drawn a Mohammed putting his head in his hands and saying, “ It’s hard to be loved by idiots!”

The newspaper has since been the target of attacks. In the night at 1^is On November 2, 2011, a molotov cocktail caused a fire in the newspaper’s premises.

This January 7, in a few moments, France falls into horror. The press and freedom of expression are under attack.

In front of Rennes town hall, anonymous people crowd around and place dozens of pencils, drawings, messages, flowers and candles.

“It’s horror, it’s an attack on freedom of expressiontestifies a gentleman, I am from a generation where all these people, the Wolinskis, the Cabu, were people who made me dream. These are people who fought for freedoms in the world and when we see this massacre, it is not possible.”

At nightfall, through a few messages launched on social networks, 15 000 people find themselves in deafening silence. Some brandish pencils, the only acceptable weapons in a democracy, and point them towards the sky to make a final farewell gesture to the cartoonists who fell under the bullets of terrorists.

“People need to come together,notes Nathalie Appéré, the mayor of Rennes. The Republic is attacked, journalists have died because they carried out their profession; police officers were attacked while carrying out their missions. The population is united!”

You have to keep laughing, for them. Not tonight, Tonight we’re all Charlie, but we’ll keep laughing.

A protester in Brest on January 7, 2015

In Brest, Place de la Liberté, there are 5,000 of them. “Today I’m not laughing, but I’m going to continue laughing, that’s for sure, says a protester, his eyes moist. You have to keep laughing, for them. Not tonight, Tonight we’re all Charlie, but we’ll keep laughing.”

At the same time, 1 500 people gathered at the Place des Droits de l’Homme in Saint-Brieuc. Some brandish old Charlie covers, Love is stronger than hate, stop barbarism.

In Lorient, there are 2000, a thousand in Quimper and this is only the beginning.

The next day, throughout France, a minute of silence is observed. The lights of the Eiffel Tower go out for five long minutes. Flags are flown at half-mast for three days.

On January 11, demonstrations are organized throughout France. They bring together nearly four million people. One and a half million in Paris and two and a half million in the rest of the country, including 400 000 in Brittany.

In Rennes, the city is paralyzed. The crowd overflows the streets, struggling to move forward. 125,000 people came together to say no to hatred. “Not even afraid of bullet holes” wrote the lady on a piece of cardboard in the shape of a pencil. “We are here to share the pain of all the victims” declares another woman.

Of the “I am Charlie“are alongside”I am Ali”“I am Sarah“Tears flow down the cheeks, but every minute, bursts of applause break the silence.

“What makes this event valuable, declares a man, it is that you do not know in what capacity this or that demonstrator is there. These are all people who are scandalized by the same thing. Jews are not just Jews, they are French. They value freedoms. Some like Charlie Hebdo, others like it less, but everyone wants Charlie to continue because behind this newspaper, all freedom of the press is at stake.”

“The desire to laugh will never disappear!“, assures Charlie Hebdo today, 10 years after the attack. In this special issue, the satirical newspaper says: “indestructible!“.

All the little words and drawings left at the beginning of January 2015 in Rennes were carefully collected, dried, digitized. To retrace this moment in our lives… Among the sketches, a finger transformed into a pencil with all of Charlie’s irreverence and this little piece of poem…”freedom I write your name.”