Two Injured in Attack Near Charlie Hebdo’s Former Offices

French officials detained seven people in connection to a knife attack that occurred on September 25 near the former offices of Charlie Hebdo, a French satirical newspaper.

The suspect, an 18-year old-male, allegedly used a meat cleaver in an attack on two civilians, who are expected to survive. He connected his actions to the newspaper’s recent publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. 

The recent stabbings are not the only occurrence of Charlie Hebdo becoming a target for publishing such cartoons. In January 2015, two brothers forced their way into the offices, killed 12 people, and injured 11 more before being killed by French police. 

The newspaper moved to a secret location after the 2015 attack.

On September 2, Charlie Hebdo republished contentious cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. The cartoons, originally published in a Danish paper in 2005 before being reprinted by Charlie Hebdo in 2006, drew widespread criticism from Muslims and Islamic countries. Sunni Islam prohibits creating images or drawings of the Prophet Muhammad.

The newspaper republished the caricatures one day before the start of the ongoing trials for fourteen people allegedly involved in the 2015 attack. 

The decision to republish the cartoons was met with backlash from Muslim-majority countries. The Turkish government criticized the newspaper for reprinting the controversial images while Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan described the cartoons as “blasphemous” in a statement to the United Nations. 

In response to the recent attack, French Prime Minister Jean Castex offered “the solidarity and the support of the nation” to the victims and their families. Meanwhile, Gérald Darmanin, the Minister of the Interior, tweeted, “France will never give in to those who want to harm it through hatred, violence, and terror.” He added, “We are still at war against Islamist terrorism.”

France holds a history of Islamophobia: In 2004, then-Prime Minister François Fillon banned wearing niqabs and burqas in public. In 2016, some French municipalities also banned ‘burkinis,’ a modest form of swimwear designed for Muslim women. In 2017, Marine Le Pen, who faced charges in 2015 for inciting religious hatred against Muslims, made it to the final round of France’s presidential elections. She proposed further bans on headscarves, claiming that Islamic fundamentalism posed “a mortal danger” to France.

Given the most recent attack, it is likely that tensions between the French government and the Muslim faith will once again rise to the surface.