Paris, Montreal vigils held for Charlie Hebdo attack victims in global tributes

A minute’s silence was been held across France on Thursday to remember the victims of the attack at the office of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. At midday, crowds of people stood silently in public squares, schools and outside official buildings. Many shed tears. After the silence, bells tolled at Paris’ Notre Dame cathedral and in churches across the country. Earlier, the rector of the Paris Mosque called on Muslims to also observe the silence and honour victims of the “exceptional violence.”

Free speech, free speech …

Chant from the crowds in Madrid, Spain

Around the world, hundreds of people took to the streets of Berlin, London, New York, Brussels, Madrid, Rome and Vienna to express their horror. In Montreal, more than 1,000 people braved temperatures of minus 20C to express solidarity with France and support of freedom of speech at a special vigil. Charlie Hebdo is sold in some shops in Quebec and many of the province’s French-speaking residents read the publication. About 500 people stood in silence in front of the French embassy in Berlin, with many holding candles and waving the European Union flag. And in Trafalgar Square, London, people held up their mobile phones showing the “Je Suis Charlie” message. In Spain, the French ambassador to Madrid, Jerome Bonnafont, joined a crowd of several hundred people outside the embassy shouting “Free speech, free speech.”

World Charlie Hebdo Quebec