- Title: Charlie Hebdo releases issue marking second anniversary of attacks
- Date: 4th January 2017
- Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (FILE - JANUARY 11, 2015) (REUTERS) BANNER READING (French): "I AM CHARLIE" AND CROWD GATHERED FOR MARCH IN PLACE DE LA REPUBLIQUE CROWD GATHERED FOR MARCH IN PLACE DE LA REPUBLIQUE VARIOUS OF WORLD LEADERS INCLUDING FRENCH PRESIDENT, FRANCOIS HOLLANDE, MARCHING ARM IN ARM
- Embargoed: 19th January 2017 11:12
- Keywords: Charlie Hebdo anniversary Islamist militants attacks Kouachi Hypercacher
- Location: PARIS/ UNKNOWN LOCATION/ DAMMARTIN-EN-GOELE
- City: PARIS/ UNKNOWN LOCATION/ DAMMARTIN-EN-GOELE
- Country: France
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,International/National Security
- Reuters ID: LVA0085XO0HFR
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: "2017: at last, the end of the tunnel" reads the front cover of a special issue of Charlie Hebdo published on Wednesday (January 4), two years after Islamist gunmen opened fire during the newspaper's weekly editorial meeting, killing 12 people.
The front cover depicts a blond man looking down the barrel of a rifle on a red background. At the other end of the tunnel stands a bearded man, ready to shoot him.
The cartoon received mixed reactions from people on the streets of Paris, ranging from incomprehension to laughter.
The attack still weighs on French people's minds, lawyer Bernard Maitre explained.
"I can't recall seeing an entire editorial team of a newspaper being slaughtered in France. I don't even think the Gestapo did that. It weighs on you. It will be remembered for a long time," he said.
The attack at Charlie Hebdo on January 7 was the first of a series of mass shootings in France in 2015. In November a co-ordinated gun and bomb attack on a series of venues in and around Paris killed 130 people.
"Charlie Hebdo was the beginning but then it sadly went on. If it is the end of the tunnel, fine, but I am not that optimistic. I think this will go on for quite a long time, even a very long time," bank manager Pierre said.
In the aftermath of the shooting at the Charlie Hebdo offices, another Islamist militant murdered a policewoman and took hostages two days later at the HyperCacher supermarket in south-eastern Paris. He killed four before police shot him dead.
The escaped Charlie Hebdo gunmen were cornered at a printing plant north of Paris and shot by police on the same afternoon.
Two years on, France was preparing to remember its victims with ceremonies at each of the sites targeted by the militants. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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