TRENDING

Twitter users show support for victims of Charlie Hebdo shooting in Paris

7 Jan 2015

The homepage of Charlie Hebdo's website now bears this image. Je Suis Charlie means I Am Charlie.

By using the hashtags #CharlieHebdo and #JeSuisCharlie, Twitter users are showing solidary with the 12 people shot dead by hooded gunmen at the offices of satirical publication Charlie Hebdo in Paris earlier today.

Among the people who were killed are Charlie Hebdo’s editor, Stéphane Charbonnier, three prominent cartoonists, Jean Cabut, Bernard Verlhac and Georges Wolinski, police have said.

Two police officers were also killed in the attack that began at 11.30am, Euronews reported, and four people wounded are in critical condition.

Police have undertaken a manhunt for three suspects while French President Francois Hollande called the shooting “an act of indescribable barbarity”.

In the past, Charlie Hebdo had been firebombed for publishing images lampooning Muslim leaders.

On Twitter, where #CharlieHebdo has been trending, users are sharing their own images in the wake of what CNN, among other media, has deemed a ‘terror attack’.

Tina Costanza was a journalist and sub-editor at Silicon Republic

editorial@siliconrepublic.com