French police question 8-year-old who ‘backed’ Charlie Hebdo attackers
A public security official in the Alpes-Maritimes region, said that the boy declared “I am with the terrorists” and refused to take part in the national minute of silence for victims.
An eight-year-old boy from the south of France who claimed to support the men who attacked the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo was detained and questioned by police for defending terrorism.
Fabienne Lewandowski, deputy director for public security in the Alpes-Maritimes region, said on Thursday that the boy declared “I am with the terrorists” and refused to take part in the national minute of silence for the victims. The storming of the newspaper offices left 12 people dead and launched three days of terror in the Paris region that killed a total of 20 people, including the gunmen.
A lawyer for the child says the decision to question the child at a police station shows a “collective hysteria.” Dozens of people have been arrested and accused of defending terrorism since the attacks.
All you need to know about the Paris shootings
>Recent security incidents in France
- ›Dec. 1, 2007 - Gunmen suspected of belonging to Basque separatist group ETA kill two Spanish policemen working undercover in France.
- ›Jan. 11, 2009 - Arsonists use fire bombs to attack a synagogue near Paris and a place of worship in Strasbourg.
- ›Nov. 10, 2010 - Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux announces the arrest of five French nationals suspected of conspiring to launch a terror attack in France.
- ›November 2011 - A firebomb attack guts the headquarters of Charlie Hebdo after it put an image of the Prophet Mohammad on its cover.
- ›March 2012 - Mohamed Merah, an al Qaeda-inspired gunman, kills seven people in three separate shootings in Toulouse. Victims included three soldiers of North African origin, a rabbi and his two young children.
- ›December 2014 - A man shouting "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest) injures 13 by ramming a vehicle into a crowd in the eastern city of Dijon. Prime Minister Manuel Valls says France has "never before faced such a high threat linked to terrorism".
Please Email the Editor