Macron pays tribute to victims of Charlie Hebdo attacks

French politicians paid tribute to the victims of the attack on the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in January 2015, at a time when the paper’s latest weekly issue sparked outrage in Iran.

French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted the names of all 17 people who were victims of a series of attacks 8 years ago in and around Paris, including 12 people killed in the office of the satirical French newspaper Charlie Hebdo.

“We will never forget you,” Macron wrote, accompanying his tweet with a caricature of the famous French artist Planto.

On the anniversary of the attacks, including the takeover of a kosher supermarket, French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne tweeted: “The Republic will stand up in the face of Islamic terrorism. For our families, for our values, for our freedom: we don’t forget.”

The ceremony took place in front of the former headquarters of the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo in the 11th arrondissement of Paris, in the presence of French National Assembly President Yael Brun-Bivé, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo.

Eight years after the attacks, Charlie Hebdo was once again at the center of a diplomatic crisis this week after publishing cartoons criticizing Iranian regime leader Ali Khamenei that Tehran found offensive.

On Thursday, the Iranian Foreign Ministry announced the closure of the French Research Institute in Tehran (IFRE). “The Islamic Republic condemns the continued inaction of the concerned French authorities in the face of Islamophobia and propaganda of racial hatred in the French media,” the ministry said in a statement.

Source: AFP.