Charlie Hebdo attack: ambassador tells Australia our shared values targeted
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Version 0 of 1. The values Australians share with French people have been targeted in the terror attack on Charlie Hebdo offices, according to the French ambassador to Australia. Christophe Lecourtier acknowledged satire was dangerous, saying this had been proven in the deaths of the cartoonists and journalists along with two police officers who were protecting them. “Let me tell you how shocking it is, because this happened in the centre of Paris,” he told ABC News 24 on Thursday. “A peaceful city Australia knows. And what has been targeted is not only the French people but also the values, the values that we also share with your country, with Australia. “Freedom of press, freedom of expression, and this is something universal that is so important for us. This is what the terrorists have tried to kill yesterday in Paris.” Twelve people, including eight journalists and two police officers, were killed when two masked men, armed with Kalashnikovs, stormed the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday morning local time. Lecourtier said the cartoonists killed had been part of his entire life because the magazine started publishing when he was a student. “They’ve been, you know, during all my life, doing their job and proving that in my country, as it is the case also in Australia, everybody can talk about everything,” he said. “This is one of the values of our revolution. More than 200 years ago. And we still want to support that. Whatever happens.” Asked if satire was dangerous, Lecourtier responded that it clearly was because the journalists attacked and murdered were already protected by the French police. He said the two policemen shot and killed by the terrorists were protecting the Charlie Hebdo staff. “You will see in the coming days people demonstrating in the streets of Paris and other major cities, but on the other hand ... this is what we are doing currently in Africa and in other parts of the world – we will be able to track and destroy the people who are behaving in such a barbarous way,” he said. The French embassies in Canberra and Sydney lowered their flags to half mast and on Thursday morning French citizens, who were visibly upset, arrived with flowers to pay respects to the victims. The embassies in Sydney and Canberra had also increased their security. Visitors to the Sydney consulate on Thursday morning had their IDs checked and bags searched. Australian federal police are also patrolling outside the CBD office. In Sydney a gathering is planned at Hyde Park at 9.30pm and will include a minute’s silence at 10pm, when there will also be a minute’s silence in France. In Melbourne, people will be showing their support for Charlie Hebdo by gathering in Federation Square. The Australian prime minister urged Australians not to let the threat of terror attacks deter them from living a normal life. Tony Abbott linked the Paris attack to the jihadist group Islamic State even though no group had yet taken responsibility for the attack. “These people, they are in love with death, as was demonstrated by the Martin Place siege in Sydney,” he said. The opposition leader, Bill Shorten, described the attack as a “senseless and horrific” act of terrorism. “There is no place in any democratic society for extremism that threatens our liberties,” he said. In Paris, Australian breakfast television host Lisa Wilkinson and her husband, writer Peter FitzSimons, joined the rally of thousands of people on the last night of their holiday in the French capital. Amazing scenes here at Place de la Republique in Paris. Thousands holding pens aloft chanting "No more blood, ink must flow". #CharlieHebdo |