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Charlie Hebdo magazine will be made 'honorary citizen of Paris'

Council of Paris will hold a meeting later over the move

Heather Saul
Friday 09 January 2015 04:46 EST
Journalists from the press agency Agence France-Presse observe a minute’s silent at their
headquarters in Paris yesterday
Journalists from the press agency Agence France-Presse observe a minute’s silent at their headquarters in Paris yesterday (AFP)

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The French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo is to be made an honorary citizen of Paris.

The Council of Paris will hold a meeting later where it is expected to announce the move, the BBC reports.

It comes amid growing tensions in the country over the killing of 12 people at the offices of Charlie Hebdo by two masked gunmen who shouted Islamist slogans.

The tension gripping France deepened further yesterday after a policewoman was shot dead in a southern Parisian suburb. Two explosions were also reported near mosques south of Paris. No one was hurt in those incidents.

On Thursday, the leader of France’s far-right Front National party Marine Le Pen said she wants to offer the country a referendum on the death penalty.

The controversial leader claimed radical Islam was behind the attacks and said “denial and hypocrisy” are no longer an option.

After a series of Islamophobic posts on Twitter, #BlameTheMuslimGame began trending mocking the users responsible for those tweets.

President Francois Hollande has taken the unusual step of inviting Le Pen, far-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon and centrist Francois Bayrou to the Elysee Palace for talks after appealing for tolerance and unity.

A huge manhunt launched after the masked gunmen stormed into the magazine's offices and opened fire, killing eight journalists, two police officers, a maintenance worker and a visitor is continuing today.

Thousands of police and security officers have been deployed in the hunt, which is concentrating on a rural area to the north of the city after reports that they were spotted driving a Renault Clio at a roadside petrol station in the Aisne region.

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