With the killers of two policemen and 10 staff at the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo still on the loose, Parisians are being asked to show their solidarity and support for free speech with a rally this evening at Place de la Republique.
The rally builds on a Twitter campaign using the hashtag #JeSuisCharlie (I am Charlie), started by Thierry Puget shortly after the offices of the magazine were attacked by three masked gunmen.
As well as expressions of support on social media, Parisians have also been taking the slogan on to the street, with the Guardian publishing a picture of a young woman holding a cardboard sign bearing the words.
The author Salman Rushdie has also tweeted his support using the hashtag. He issued the following statement:
“Religion, a medieval form of unreason, when combined with modern weaponry becomes a real threat to our freedoms. This religious totalitarianism has caused a deadly mutation in the heart of Islam and we see the tragic consequences in Paris today.
“I stand with Charlie Hebdo, as we all must, to defend the art of satire, which has always been a force for liberty and against tyranny, dishonesty and stupidity.
“‘Respect for religion’ has become a code phrase meaning ‘fear of religion’. Religions, like all other ideas, deserve criticism, satire, and, yes, our fearless disrespect.”
Five of the ten staff killed in the attack, which is thought to have been in revenge for satirical cartoons criticising Islamic extremism, have now been named.
They are: the magazine’s editor and cartoonist, Stéphane Charbonnier, known as Charb; Bernard Maris, an economist, writer and the magazine’s deputy editor; and the cartoonists Jean Cabu, Georges Wolinski and Bernard Verlhac, known as Tignous.
As well as the rally planned for Paris tonight, other acts of solidarity are also being organised, including in London’s Trafalgar Square at 6pm tonight.
Update, 8 January:
The names of all those killed in the attack have now been released. They are:
Charb – real name Stephane Charbonnier, 47, artist and publisher of Charlie Hebdo.
Cabu – real name Jean Cabut, 76, Charlie Hebdo’s lead cartoonist.
Georges Wolinski – Tuinisian-born artist, 80. Had been drawing cartoons since the 1960s.
Tignous – real name Bernard Verlhac, 57, was a member of a group of artists called Cartoonists for Peace.
Bernard Maris – 68, economist and regular columnist for Charlie Hebdo.
Honoré – Philippe Honoré, 73, cartoonist who had worked for Charlie Hebdo since 1992. He drew the last cartoon tweeted by the weekly shortly before the shootings. The cartoon shows the leader of Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, presenting his New Year message saying “and especially good health!”
Michel Renaud – a former journalist who was visiting the Charlie Hebdo offices from Clermont-Ferrard.
Mustapha Ourrad – a copy-editor for Charlie Hebdo. Of Algerian descent.
Elsa Cayat – Charlie Hebdo analyst and columnist.
Frederic Boisseau – building maintenance worker.
Franck Brinsolaro – 49-year-old policeman appointed to head security for Charb.
Ahmed Merabet – Police officer, 42, and a French Muslim.
