AP PHOTOS: The Charlie Hebdo slaughter and follow-up terror attacks 10 years ago that changed France
AP PHOTOS: The Charlie Hebdo slaughter and follow-up terror attacks 10 years ago that changed France
In this Wednesday Jan. 7, 2015, file photo, masked gunman fire their weapons outside the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo’s office in Paris. (AP Photo, File) NO SALES
In this Wednesday Jan. 7, 2015, file photo, masked gunman fire their weapons outside the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo’s office in Paris. (AP Photo, File) NO SALES
In this Wednesday Jan. 7, 2015, file photo, masked gunman fire their weapons outside the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo’s office in Paris. (AP Photo, File) NO SALES
Pallbearers carry the casket of Charlie Hebdo cartoonist Bernard Verlhac, known as Tignous, decorated by friends and colleagues of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, at the city hall of Montreuil, outside east of Paris, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2015. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, File)
Pallbearers carry the casket of Charlie Hebdo cartoonist Bernard Verlhac, known as Tignous, decorated by friends and colleagues of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, at the city hall of Montreuil, outside east of Paris, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2015. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, File)
People gather in solidarity of the victims of a terror attack against a satirical newspaper, in Paris, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2015. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)
People gather in solidarity of the victims of a terror attack against a satirical newspaper, in Paris, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2015. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)
Charlie Hebdo newspaper staff, with editorialist Patrick Pelloux, right, cartoonist Renald Luzier, known as Luz, left, react during a march in Paris, France, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2015. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, File)
Charlie Hebdo newspaper staff, with editorialist Patrick Pelloux, right, cartoonist Renald Luzier, known as Luz, left, react during a march in Paris, France, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2015. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, File)
A woman lights a candle outside the kosher grocery where Amedy Coulibaly killed four people in a terror attack, in Paris, Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2015. AP Photo/Christophe Ena, File)
A woman lights a candle outside the kosher grocery where Amedy Coulibaly killed four people in a terror attack, in Paris, Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2015. AP Photo/Christophe Ena, File)
Forensic officers gather outside a kosher grocery store which was the scene of a hostage taking in Paris, Jan. 9, 2015. (AP Photo/Francois Mori, File)
Forensic officers gather outside a kosher grocery store which was the scene of a hostage taking in Paris, Jan. 9, 2015. (AP Photo/Francois Mori, File)
A demonstrator holds a sign reading “I am Charlie” at Place de la Nation during a rally in Paris, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2015. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)
A demonstrator holds a sign reading “I am Charlie” at Place de la Nation during a rally in Paris, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2015. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)
French President Francois Hollande embraces German Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, as she arrives at the Elysee Palace, Paris, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2015. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)
French President Francois Hollande embraces German Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, as she arrives at the Elysee Palace, Paris, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2015. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)
Motorcyclists ride on the Champs Elysees with the Arc de Triomphe displaying the solidarity message “Paris is Charlie” in Paris, France, Friday, Jan. 9, 2015. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani, File)
Motorcyclists ride on the Champs Elysees with the Arc de Triomphe displaying the solidarity message “Paris is Charlie” in Paris, France, Friday, Jan. 9, 2015. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani, File)
Security officers escort released hostages after they stormed a kosher market to end a hostage situation, Paris, Friday, Jan. 9, 2015. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, File)
Security officers escort released hostages after they stormed a kosher market to end a hostage situation, Paris, Friday, Jan. 9, 2015. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, File)
Thousands of people gather at Republique square in Paris, France, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2015. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, File)
Thousands of people gather at Republique square in Paris, France, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2015. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, File)
Thousands of people gather at Republique Square in Paris on Jan. 11, 2015. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, File)
Thousands of people gather at Republique Square in Paris on Jan. 11, 2015. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, File)
From left, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Mali’s President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, France’s President Francois Hollande, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel, EU President Donald Tusk, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas march during a rally in Paris on Jan. 11, 2015. (Philippe Wojazer, Pool via AP, File)
From left, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Mali’s President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, France’s President Francois Hollande, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel, EU President Donald Tusk, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas march during a rally in Paris on Jan. 11, 2015. (Philippe Wojazer, Pool via AP, File)
An anonymous art installation showing a broken pencil is displayed on the pavement near the Charlie Hebdo office in Paris, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2015. (AP Photo/Francois Mori, File)
An anonymous art installation showing a broken pencil is displayed on the pavement near the Charlie Hebdo office in Paris, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2015. (AP Photo/Francois Mori, File)
Brigitte Le Blein, of Nice, shows her hand reading “I am Charlie” during a silent march for victims of the shooting at the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2015, in Nice, southeastern France. (AP Photo/Lionel Cironneau, File)
Brigitte Le Blein, of Nice, shows her hand reading “I am Charlie” during a silent march for victims of the shooting at the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2015, in Nice, southeastern France. (AP Photo/Lionel Cironneau, File)
In this Jan. 7, 2015 file photo, an injured person is transported to an ambulance after a shooting at the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo’s office, in Paris. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)
In this Jan. 7, 2015 file photo, an injured person is transported to an ambulance after a shooting at the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo’s office, in Paris. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)
French riot officers patrol in Longpont, north of Paris, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2015. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)
French riot officers patrol in Longpont, north of Paris, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2015. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)
People watch from their roof-top apartment as some thousands of people gather at Republique square in Paris, France, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2015. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, File)
People watch from their roof-top apartment as some thousands of people gather at Republique square in Paris, France, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2015. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, File)
PARIS (AP) — When Charlie Hebdo cartoonist Coco thought back and drew for a new documentary about the slaughter she survived 10 years ago at the French satirical journal, the memories that streamed from her marker pen were all black.
Black barrels of the guns that the al-Qaida-linked gunmen used to mow down 12 people, decimating Charlie’s staff of cheeky cartoonists who reveled in their right to lampoon all and sundry and poked fun at Islamic extremism with caricatures of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad.
The black hoods that the killers wore as they sprayed Charlie’s Paris offices with bullets and then rejoiced outside, yelling: “We avenged the Prophet Muhammad. We killed Charlie Hebdo!”
And the darkness that, in the immediate aftermath, seemed to engulf all of France, shaken to the core by the horror and the dawning realization that the bloodshed had profoundly changed the country, scarring it forever.
The Charlie attack was just a first blow
As France was reeling from the attack, terror struck again. With a massive police manhunt closing in on brothers Chérif and Saïd Kouachi, cornering the Charlie Hebdo killers in the industrial zone of a town northeast of Paris, accomplice Amédy Coulibaly, armed with an assault rifle, pistols and explosives, stormed a kosher grocery store in Paris, killing four people and taking others hostage.
“You are Jews and French, the two things I hate the most,” he told his hostages.
Ultimately, all three attackers died in near-simultaneous police raids.
“I am Charlie”
In its pain, France came together. The weekend after the attacks, millions marched in rallies of unity across the country. Paris boulevards and squares filled with more than a million people, including dozens of world leaders who walked arm-in-arm.
Marchers held up placards reading “Je Suis Charlie” — “I am Charlie” — a slogan that caught like wildfire, even overseas at rallies held from Berlin to Bangkok. Mourners also held up pens, symbolizing how the killings drove home, for many, the value of free speech.
Charlie bloodied but not bowed
Charlie has lived on, continuing to amuse and anger readers with its irreverence.
“INDESTRUCTIBLE!” roared the headline of its edition Tuesday that marked the 10-year anniversary of the Jan. 7, 2015, assault in inimitable Charlie fashion. Inside, under the headline “yes, we can laugh about God, especially if he exists,” the weekly journal published four pages of drawings from cartoonists who responded to its international call last year for “the funniest and meanest caricature about God.”
“Ten years on, Charlie Hebdo is still here,” its director and cartoonist Riss, who was wounded in the attack, wrote in an editorial. “So, too, are the causes of the drama and the determination of the journal’s members.”