Paris cops shoot extremist dead on anniversary of Charlie Hebdo attack as the killer remains at large

A MAN shot dead by Parisian police as he tried to attack a police station on the first anniversary of the jihadist assault on Charlie Hebdo had a meat cleaver, an Islamic State emblem and a “fake” suicide vest.

The man, who was apparently of Moroccan origin and aged around 20, was also heard to shout “Allahu Akbar” as he approached the police station in the multi-ethnic neighbourhood in the north of the capital, the interior ministry said.
“He was found to be in possession of a mobile phone and a piece of paper on which the flag of Daesh was printed, as well as an unequivocal claim handwritten in Arabic,” the prosecutor said in a statement, using the Arabic name for IS......


A source close to the investigation said a piece of paper found on the man’s body “vows allegiance” to the Islamic State group and said he was avenging French “attacks in Syria”.
The man’s fingerprints matched those on file for a thief convicted in 2013, a homeless man who self-identified as Sallah Ali of Morocco, born in Casablanca in 1995, the source said earlier.
A witness said he had heard “two or three shots” in the incident that occurred a year to the day of the jihadist attack on satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo.
The man had a knife, while under his coat he had a pouch around his torso with a wire hanging from it, but the “apparatus contained no explosives,” a judiciary source said.

French criminal police ...in the Rue de la Goutte d'Or in the north of Paris after police shot a man dead as he was trying to enter a police station. Picture: AFPSource:AFP

“On Thursday morning, a man attempted to attack a policeman at the reception of the police station before being hit by shots from the police,” said interior ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet.
“Bomb disposal experts are at the scene working to secure the site,” he said, adding that Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve had left for the scene.

A French police officer ... at the Boulevard de Barbes in the north of Paris after police shot a man dead as he was trying to enter the police station. Picture: AFPSource:AFP

A year ago today, a terror attack in the French capital shocked the world and prompted the biggest mass march on the streets of Paris since Liberation in 1944.
But as Parisians today commemorate the first anniversary of the attacks that targeted the staff of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and the unity the massacre attracted, the country remains deeply divided, under a state of emergency and primed for further terrorist atrocities.

Rescue workers ... at the Boulevard de Barbes in the north of Paris after police shot a man dead as he was trying to enter a police station in the Rue de la Goutte d'Or. Picture: AFPSource:AFP

The magazine yesterday published a million copies of its magazine to commemorate the jihadist attack that saw 11 mostly cartoonist staff and contributors shot dead and another dozen injured.
Also killed that day and on the following two days in the shooting spree were two police officers and four Jewish shoppers; the two main gunmen claimed to represent an al-Qaeda splinter group in Yemen while a third attacker was representing Islamic State. Seventeen people were killed in all as well as the three attackers.

French police ... behind a police cordon at the Rue des Islettes in the north of Paris after police shot a man dead. Picture: AFPSource:AFP

In the satirical style that prompted the declared jihad against the magazine, the special edition yesterday featured a provocative bloodstained God figure with an AK-47 on his shoulder under the headline “One year on — the killer is still at large” as it goes on with 32-pages of profane, blasphemous and irreverent humour attacking all faiths that yesterday attracted condemnation from the Vatican.

French police patrol ... near the Rue de la Goutte d'Or in the north of Paris. Picture: AFPSource:AFP

The edition devotes pages to the topic of secularism as well as reflecting on the terrifying moments the gunman brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi entered their offices.
The fiercely secular Leftist magazine was not popular and was close to closing when it was attacked and became a global representation of freedom of speech and saw four million people march in France including two million in Paris in solidarity chanting “Je Suis Charlie”.

A copy of the special commemorative edition of Charlie Hebdo sold at a newsstand in Paris to mark the one-year anniversary of the jihadist attack that claimed the lives of 12 people. Picture: AFPSource:AFP

To commemorate the anniversary, plaques have been unveiled in Paris at the sites of the atrocities including the spot where a police officer was shot dead after pleading for his life, the dramatic scene captured on video.
Commemorations will culminate on Sunday when a 10m tall oak “remembrance tree” will be planted at the Place de la Republique, the square that became the rallying point for opposition to the Hebdo attack, and 10 months later also the centre of outpouring of grief over the co-ordinated terrorist attacks in Paris last November that left 130 people dead.

Chaos ... An injured person is transported to an ambulance after the shooting at Charlie Hebdo's office in Paris on January 7, 2015. Picture: AP/Thibault CamusSource:AP

President Francoise Hollande, who is to preside over the Republique commemoration, renewed his call for public unity but many commentators declared that an impossibility.
Mr Hollande led tributes and spoke generally of the challenges facing the world with the rise of domestic terrorism led from offshore from the likes of ISIS.
Addressing ranks of police who he praised for continuing to provide around the clock protection in France, Mr Hollande said terrorists were far from finished with their plots in the country.
He said the attackers would never change the French way of life and freedoms, joy and culture, aspects hated by terrorists, but the continued threat weighed heavily on the nation.

First anniversary ... French President Francois Hollande greets a member of the FNAM (National Veterans Federation) during a visit to the French anti-terror police forces (Sentinelle) at the police headquarters, in Paris. Picture: AFPSource:AFP

He told assembled officers at their headquarters there needed to be better cooperation and communication between security forces as he reaffirmed they would be supported with 5000 extra officer places between now and 2017. The president yesterday also met survivors of the January 2015 attacks and families of the victims at solemn ceremonies at each sites of the atrocities.
While the Hebdo attacks galvanised politicians and the public, one year on they are at loggerheads over the future of handling crisis, immigration, state security and multiculturalism.
France remains under a state of emergency with the French Government conceding since the Hebdo attacks, 18 terrorist recruitment networks had been dismantled, 11 groups planning attacks arrested and six planned attacks thwarted.

A makeshift memorial ... for the victims of Paris attacks at the Place de la Republique in Paris, as France marks a year since the jihadist attack on the offices of Charlie Hebdo. Picture: AFPSource:AFP

In regional elections late last year once despised Far Right candidates polled solidly on an anti-immigration campaign laced with scaremongering about the terrorists migrants might be harbouring, prompting social unrest and protests in some areas while parliament is split on the need to have a state of emergency and the sweeping new powers the declaration gives police and government moves to strip dual nationals of their citizenship in terrorism cases.
Jewish communities live under permanent armed guard as do some mosques while 10,000 troops remain deployed on the streets to protect national monuments and tourist sites.

High alert ... A French soldier patrols after French President Francois Hollande attended a ceremony to pay tribute to the victims of last year's January attacks outside the kosher supermarket in Paris. Picture: Ian Langsdon/APSource:AP

The constitution is to be revised to reflect the national emergency and the pall of terror with parliamentary debate to begin next month that many fear will redefine what democratic France has long stood for.
“Events such as the January or November attacks trigger moments of unity, in reaction but that is not enough to offset deep divisions,” Ipsos polling organisation in France boss Brice Teinturier said.
“The divisions are huge. There are several Frances and they are clashing,” he said, describing a France of big cities turned towards the future, a rustbelt France that feels crushed by globalisation, and a France of housing estates that feels forgotten.