France saw one of the worst security crises in decades after three days of attacks by gunmen brought bloodshed to the capital Paris and its surrounding areas. It began with a massacre at the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo,publishing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.on Wednesday 7 January ,and ended with a huge police operation and two sieges two days later. With a series of protests, claiming solidarity with the victims of the attack and their families, some also questioned whether the magazine that was attacked crossed the limit of freedom of speech.
France saw one of the worst security crises in decades after three days of attacks by gunmen brought bloodshed to the capital Paris and its surrounding areas. It began with a massacre at the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo,publishing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.on Wednesday 7 January ,and ended with a huge police operation and two sieges two days later. With a series of protests, claiming solidarity with the victims of the attack and their families, some also questioned whether the magazine that was attacked crossed the limit of freedom of speech.
The French President Francois Hollande ,on Thursday , exactly one week after the attacks, addressing the public ,said that Muslims are the primary victims of intolerance and must be protected. Talking from the Institute of Arab World in Paris, he highlighted how the acts that are committed against Muslims, by others, and by Muslims themselves, make them the first victims of fanaticism and intolerance. For him ‘”Anti-Muslim acts, like anti-Semitism, should not only be denounced, but severely punished.”
He said that Islam was compatible with democracy and thanked the Arab community for their solidarity over terrorism in Paris. Speaking on Thursday morning, Mr Hollande said that the French were united in the face of terror, where the French Muslims had the same rights as all other French, and the whole of France had the obligation to protect them from any violent acts.
Meanwhile, German Chancellor Angela Merkel pledged Thursday to heighten security measures against Islamist extremists, speaking to parliament eight days after the Paris attacks. According to her, “Hate preachers, violent delinquents who act in the name of Islam, those behind them, and the intellectual arsonists of international terrorism will be rigorously fought with all legal means at the disposal of the state” .
Pope Francis has also spoken about the limits to freedom of speech where he said there are limits to freedom of expression and that following the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris “one cannot make fun of faith”. On a plane from Sri Lanka to the Philippines, the largest Catholic majority country in Asia, the pope said freedom of speech was a fundamental human right but “every religion has its dignity”.
When asked about the attack that killed 12 people at the offices of Charlie Hebdo , targeted because they had printed depictions of the Prophet Muhammad , he said: “One cannot provoke, one cannot insult other people’s faith, one cannot make fun of faith. For him, the last week’s attacks were an abnormality, where such horrific acts cannot be justified in the name of God. He staunchly defended freedom of expression, but then he said there were limits, especially when people mocked religion.
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