In the capital, 44 world leaders were among the 1,6 million who linking arms to show their rejection of violence and solidarity with the freedom this threatens.

The French government says there were more people at yesterday’s demonstations than came out to celebrate the country’s liberation from Nazi occupation.

They wanted to show unity after the attacks on satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, police officers and a Jewish grocery story.

French President Francois Hollande declared that on the day of protest Paris was the capital of the world.

Other rallies took place in capitals around the world.

French ambassador Elizabeth Barbier led a silent protest from the Alliance Francaise in Johannesburg.

The post Bigger crowds than for liberation from Nazi occupation appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

The pen is mightier than the sword. Unless, as we saw in France last week, you happen to be holding the sword.

If this, or anything I write in this piece, offends you, good.

It means I am doing my job.

Je suis Charlie.

And good for you if you are reading on.

We might have linked arms in Paris yesterday. Christian, Jew, Muslim, Buddist in a gathering larger than the 1945 liberation from Nazi occupation.

The very basis of the democracy we are so fond of saying we fought and died for is the obligation to defend to the death the other person’s right to say that with which you profoundly disagree.

That amounts to defending another’s right to be offensive.

If Charlie Hebdo – the French satirical magazine subjected to a decimating jihadi attack – stands for anything then that is the right to be offensive.

In fact, insulting. Throughly objectionable.

The magazine has done that in the face of banning and firebombing.

It began life as Hari Kiri and was banned in 1970 for mocking the death of former President Charles de Gaulle.

Most of the staff simply migrated to Charlie Hebdo named for the Charles Schulz cartoon character with hebdo being the shortened form of a weekly publication.

The Catholic Church has more often been its religious target and the Jewish faith has tasted the full force of its vituperation.

Interestingly both have condemned Wednesday’s attack.

The politicians who have taken up the cudgels for Charlie Hebdo have, to a man or woman, been viciously stabbed by the pens and pencils they now protect.

Those of usproud of our French heritage speak fondly of baguettes, croissants, Beaujoulais nouveau and tricolores.

Last week we had to examine the more serious side of that link: freedom of speech.

It is the very root of democracy. The real meaning of liberte, fraternite, egalite.

It is extremely difficult and dangerous. It is much easier to be politically correct, keep quiet and avoid offending.

But then you don’t get a society that is the envy of the world.

President Francois Hollande, who’s deportment since the Charlie Hebdo outrage would have done his record-low popularity rating no harm, explained that his compatriots were paying for decisions taken in the Elyssee Palace and Quay d’Orsay.

You could, of course, avoid getting involved in driving Al Qaeda out of northern Mali.

You could turn your face against joining the war on terror.

There would a moral price for this and, with any luck, no physical toll.

But then you would not be France.

(This piece first appeared on JJ Cornish.com)

The post It’s difficult and dangerous appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

The pen is mightier than the sword. Unless, as we saw in France last week, you happen to be holding the sword.

If this, or anything I write in this piece, offends you, good.

It means I am doing my job.

Je suis Charlie.

And good for you if you are reading on.

We might have linked arms in Paris yesterday. Christian, Jew, Muslim, Buddist in a gathering larger than the 1945 liberation from Nazi occupation.

The very basis of the democracy we are so fond of saying we fought and died for is the obligation to defend to the death the other person’s right to say that with which you profoundly disagree.

That amounts to defending another’s right to be offensive.

If Charlie Hebdo – the French satirical magazine subjected to a decimating jihadi attack – stands for anything then that is the right to be offensive.

In fact, insulting. Throughly objectionable.

The magazine has done that in the face of banning and firebombing.

It began life as Hari Kiri and was banned in 1970 for mocking the death of former President Charles de Gaulle.

Most of the staff simply migrated to Charlie Hebdo named for the Charles Schulz cartoon character with hebdo being the shortened form of a weekly publication.

The Catholic Church has more often been its religious target and the Jewish faith has tasted the full force of its vituperation.

Interestingly both have condemned Wednesday’s attack.

The politicians who have taken up the cudgels for Charlie Hebdo have, to a man or woman, been viciously stabbed by the pens and pencils they now protect.

Those of usproud of our French heritage speak fondly of baguettes, croissants, Beaujoulais nouveau and tricolores.

Last week we had to examine the more serious side of that link: freedom of speech.

It is the very root of democracy. The real meaning of liberte, fraternite, egalite.

It is extremely difficult and dangerous. It is much easier to be politically correct, keep quiet and avoid offending.

But then you don’t get a society that is the envy of the world.

President Francois Hollande, who’s deportment since the Charlie Hebdo outrage would have done his record-low popularity rating no harm, explained that his compatriots were paying for decisions taken in the Elyssee Palace and Quay d’Orsay.

You could, of course, avoid getting involved in driving Al Qaeda out of northern Mali.

You could turn your face against joining the war on terror.

There would a moral price for this and, with any luck, no physical toll.

But then you would not be France.

(This piece first appeared on JJ Cornish.com)

The post It would be easier to keep quiet appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

At least 5 000 of these will be used to protect 700 Jewish schools. One of them is believed to have been the original target when a nearby Jewish grocery store was attacked by a jihadi who killed four hostages before being cut down by security forces.

Wounded and fragile after the worst terrorist attacks in five decades, France is looking at how to prevent a recurrence of outrages like the killings at Charlie Hebdo magazine and a Jewish grocery store in Paris.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls says the terrorist threat still exists.

The Jewish community feel particularly vulnerable.

14 000 Jews left the country last year.

Valls insists that France would not be France without the Jews.

The post Special measures to protect French Jews appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

A 25 year old woman terrorist is still at large and French police warn she may be armed and dangerous.

A statement sent to several media outlets by Al-Qaeda in Yemen claims the terrorist group is responsible for the shooting the 12 people at the Charlie Hebdo magazine which it calls revenge for the honour of Prophet Muhammad.

The alleged perpetarators of this act are Said and Cherif Kouachi who claimed allegiance to the group and died in a hail of police bullets on the outskirts of Paris yesterday.

Also in the capital police killed Amedy Koulibaly who’d taken hostages in a Jewish grocer demanding the release of the Kouachis.

His partner Hyatt Boumedienne is still at large.

The post The battle against free speech continues, says Al Qaeda appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

Even as the bells of Notre Dame cathedral toll mournfully, police are searching for a gunman who killed a policewoman, wounded one of her colleagues and injured a bystander with automatic fire at a metro station in the south of the French capital today.

Flags are flying at half staff across France marking the official day of mourning….

….as authorities search for two brothers of Algerian descent who they believe were the masked gunmen who murdered a dozen people at the offices of the magazine Charlie Hebdo yesterday.

Police warn that Said and Cherif Kouachi, in their early thirties, are armed and dangerous and should not be approached.

They fear the brothers, who delivered pizzas in the north eastern city of Rheims, may have left the country.

The post French policewoman dies in second terror shootout appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

There are fears that two French jihadis of Algerian descent who methodically murdered a dozen people at the offices of a satirical magazine yesterday may be returning to the capital to die in a final suicide attack.

The men were spotted masked and armed this morning at a petrol station an hour northeast of Paris.

Pictures of Cherif and Said Kouachi have been splashed on television screens around the world by French authorities seeking them for yesterday’s militarily polished massacre at the offices of Charlie Hebdo.

They fled the scene in a black Citroen which they crashed and stole a grey Renault.

This morning they were seen north east of Paris where they stole food and petrol.

They are evidently still in full combat readiness.

Police fear they might have opted to end it all with a headline grabbing suicide attack in Paris and are taking precautions to prevent this.

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