A blow against freedomA blow against freedom.docVIP

Terror in Paris A blow against freedom France and other European countries have long been braced for a commando-style terror attack, but it was no less shocking when it came IT WAS the sort of attack the French government has dreaded for months. Only in December Manuel Valls, the prime minister, declared that France had “never faced a greater terrorist threat”. On January 7th armed gunmen burst into the Paris offices ofCharlie Hebdo, a newspaper known for its defiant publication of satirical cartoons, and shot dead ten staff inside. Two police officers were also killed. President Fran?ois Hollande, who arrived swiftly at the scene, was in no doubt: it was “a terrorist attack” of “extreme barbarity”. It was the worst act of terrorism to be perpetrated on French soil for over 50 years. The choice of target was not random.?Charlie Hebdo?has long prided itself for putting free speech above political correctness, mocking politics as well as religion, and Catholicism as well as Islam. In 2006 it reprinted cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad that had provoked consternation and terrorist threats when they were first published by a Danish newspaper,?Jyllands-Posten. (The Economist?chose not to follow suit.) Five years later,Charlie Hebdo?published an edition entitled?Charia Hebdo, which it advertised as “edited” by the Prophet. During the night before publication, its Paris offices were firebombed. The paper’s offices and some of its cartoonists have since been under police protection. But this was not enough to stop two men, armed with automatic weapons, forcing their way in and shooting dead eight journalists, including Stéphane Charbonnier (known as Charb), its editor and best-known cartoonist. One of the policemen killed was his bodyguard. Bernard Maris, an economist close to the paper, was also killed. Footage showed the men shouting “We have avenged the Prophet Muhammad” as they left the building. French politicians on all sides were quick to condemn the attack. Mr Hollan