On 9 January 2015, Amedy Coulibaly, armed with a submachine gun, an assault rifle, and two Tokarev pistols, entered and attacked a Hypercacher kosher supermarket in Porte de Vincennes in Paris, France. There, Coulibaly murdered four Jewish hostages and held fifteen other hostages during a siege in which he demanded that the perpetrators of the Charlie Hebdo shooting, the Kouachi brothers, not be harmed. The siege ended when police stormed the supermarket, killing Coulibaly. The Charlie Hebdo shooting had taken place just days earlier, as did the Dammartin-en-Goële hostage crisis, in which the two Charlie Hebdo gunmen were cornered.
On 16 December 2020, 14 accomplices to both the Jewish supermarket attack and the Charlie Hebdo shooting, including Coulibaly's former partner Hayat Boumeddiene, were convicted.[3] At that time, three of the accomplices, including Bouddiene, had not been captured and were tried in absentia.[3]
Coulibaly was later confirmed to be the gunman in a shooting in Montrouge the previous day. In that shooting he killed a municipal police officer, Clarissa Jean-Philippe.[11]
A witness stated, "People were buying things when a man came in with a rifle and started shooting in all directions. I ran out. The shooting continued for several seconds."[12] Coulibaly recorded seven minutes of his attack using a GoPro camera attached to his torso, and emailed a copy of the footage using a computer at the supermarket. The video included the deaths of three of the victims.[13][14]
In an interview with BFMTV during an ensuing standoff, Coulibaly stated that he targeted the Jews at the Kosher grocery to defend Muslims, notably Palestinians.[15][16] Thanks to a mobile phone line that was unintentionally left open, Coulibaly's dialogue with his hostages was recorded and transcribed by RTL (French radio).[17] Coulibaly said his action was revenge for the Syrian government action and against the Western coalition actions in Mali, Iraq, and Afghanistan.[17]
Yohan Cohen, aged 22, and Yoav Hattab, aged 21, were hailed as heroes by their fellow hostages, as they were murdered by Coulibaly while seeking to overcome him and free the other hostages in the store. Coulibaly reportedly abandoned one of his weapons on a counter-top in the store as he entered, after it had jammed. After Coulibaly proceeded to threaten a customer with a small child at the beginning of the attack, Cohen, an employee, attempted to grab the abandoned weapon with the help of Hattab, and take down Coulibaly. When the malfunctioning gun jammed on Cohen at that moment, Coulibaly shot Cohen in the head, and then proceeded to shoot Hattab. The remaining victims of the attack, François-Michel Saada and Philippe Braham, reportedly immediately sought to resist Coulibaly as well.[18][19]
Lassana Bathily, a Malian-born Muslim[20] shop assistant, was also hailed as a hero in the hostage crisis for hiding people from the gunman and assisting police after his escape.[21] During the hostage crisis, Bathily helped hide hostages in a cold storage container in the basement. Bathily then tried to call the police, but the line was busy, so he called his friend, a Frenchman named Dennis Mercier, and Mercier alerted the authorities about the hostage situation by flagging down a policeman.[22] When Coulibaly opened fire in the store, killing Cohen, Hattab, Saada, and Braham and taking hostages, Bathily led fifteen people into the downstairs cold storage room for safety. Bathily was then able to escape alone by slipping out of the store using elevator equipment.[23] Upon leaving the store, he was immediately handcuffed and arrested by police who suspected him of playing a role in the attack. He was released after an hour and a half. Bathily also provided the officers with a key to open the store's metal blinds.[24]
Coulibaly was reportedly in contact with the Kouachi brothers as the sieges of both and the brothers progressed simultaneously, and told police that he would kill hostages if the brothers were harmed.[25] Nearby schools were placed under lock-down, and local Jewish businesses were shut down as a precaution.[26]
In 2015, several hostages sued French media over its coverage; in particular the French 24-hour news channel BFMTV. The lawyer representing the group, Patrick Klugman, said that hostages' lives were endangered by the coverage which revealed a cold room as one of their hiding places.[27]
Police intervention
All remained relatively quiet until suddenly four very loud stun grenades went off in four places at around 17:09 local time. Heavily armed police marched towards the scene whilst backup came to the scene. They surrounded the shop, with Coulibaly firing shots in the air. Someone had opened the shutters and automatic sliding doors to the supermarket. This led to police storming the grocery store, shooting and killing Coulibaly, who had previously fired shots back at police and then charged at the entrance to attack police. As he jumped, police opened fire and killed him. At least four explosions were heard, all of which were stun grenades thrown by police. Hostages were seen running out, one with a child in his arms, as ambulances swarmed the area.[28][29]
Fifteen hostages were rescued.[30] Several people, including two police officers, were wounded during the incident.[31] French President François Hollande and a prosecutor later confirmed that four people had been killed by Coulibaly as he took the hostages before the siege began.[32][33] Explosives tied to a detonator were later found around the store.[29] Bathily provided information about the store to assist police.[34]
The Hypercacher supermarket, the day after the hostage crisis
Victims
Funeral in Jerusalem for the four Jewish murder victims
The victims were posthumously awarded the Legion of Honour by the French Republic.[39] At the instigation of the Israeli government, and after some pressure on the families,[40] it was decided that they should be buried at the Givat Shaul cemetery in Jerusalem on 13 January 2015.[41] The funeral was attended by thousands, some holding signs reading "Je suis juif" or "Je suis Israelien," with pictures of the four dead.[42] During the ceremony, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, and French Ecology Minister Ségolène Royal gave brief speeches.[41][42] Royal said, "Anti-Semitism has no place in France. I want to assure you of the unfailing determination of the French government to fight against all forms and acts of anti-Semitism."[39][41][42][43]
Reactions
Marches in memory of the siege on 11 January 2015Wreaths laid by public figures such as John Kerry outside the supermarket.Lassana Bathily being honored by John Kerry.
President François Hollande described the event as a "terrifying act of anti-Semitism."[44]Israel's Foreign Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman issued a statement, saying the attacks "[were] not just against the French people or French Jews, they're against the entire free world. This is another attempt by the dark forces of radical Islam to unleash horror and terror on the West. The entire international community must stand strong and determined in the face of this terror."[45]
US Secretary of State John Kerry and French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius laying wreaths outside the scene
The Facebook page of "Al-Rasalah publication" praised the attackers. According to Arutz Sheva, the publication is linked to Hamas.[47]
Lassana Bathily, a Muslim store worker who moved from Mali to France in 2006, was hailed as a "hero," a title he himself rejected.[48][49] Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed his appreciation for Bathily's actions.[48] Bathily was awarded French nationality for his life-saving actions. On 20 January 2015, at a special ceremony in Paris, he was given his passport by the French prime minister, Manuel Valls, in person; the interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, was also present.[48][49][50][51] A petition was also started to grant him the Legion of Honour.[48] On 24 March 2015, at a ceremony in Los Angeles, he was presented with the Medal of Valor of the Simon Wiesenthal Center.[52]
The manager of the kosher supermarket, 39-year-old Patrice Oalid, who was shot in the arm during the attack, announced he would move to Israel.[53]
French comedian and political activist Dieudonné M'bala M'bala likened himself to Amedy Coulibaly on Facebook, commenting that "I feel like Charlie Coulibaly."[54][55] As a result, he was detained and questioned by the French police.[55] Moreover, Paris prosecutor started a legal investigation due to his alleged "defense of terrorism."[55][56][57][58] The French Prime Minister, Manuel Valls, stated, "Racism, antisemitism and the defense of terrorism are crimes," adding, "One should not confuse freedom of opinion and antisemitism."[59] Moreover, Bernard Cazeneuve, the Interior Minister, called Dieudonné's remark "contemptible."[57] The Conseil représentatif des institutions juives de France (CRIF) also denounced Dieudonné's comment, and called for French theatres to block him from performing.[58]
United States President Barack Obama stated deep concern about "a bunch of violent, vicious zealots who behead people or randomly shoot a bunch of folks in a deli in Paris."[60][61][62] Some commentators criticized Obama's description of the attack as "random," arguing it downplayed the role of anti-semitism.[63][64] One reporter asked government spokeswoman Jen Psaki, "If a guy goes into a kosher market and starts shooting it up, you don't – he's not looking for Buddhists, is he?"[65]
Aftermath
French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve attended the reopening of the market on 15 March.[66]
2020 trial
On 16 December 2020, a French court convicted 14 accomplices after the three attackers for crimes ranging from financing terrorism to membership of a criminal gang in relation to the attacks.[3] However, three were convicted in absentia, including Hayat Boumeddiene, the former partner of Coulibaly.[3] Boumeddiene would be convicted of financing terrorism and belonging to a criminal terrorist network, and received a sentence of 30 years in jail.[3]
Dieudonné M'bala M'bala, generally known by his stage name Dieudo, is a French comedian, actor and political activist. He has been convicted for hate speech, advocating terrorism, and slander in Belgium, France and Switzerland.
Villiers-sur-Marne is a commune in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 14.8 km (9.2 mi) from the center of Paris.
Coulibaly is a common Bambara language surname in West Africa, especially in Mali and Ivory Coast. It may refer to:
La Grande Borne is a housing estate, in the Essonne département on the southern outskirts of Paris, France. The estate is located in both the communes of Grigny and Viry-Châtillon. The architect Émile Aillaud designed this housing estate.
Djamel Beghal is an Algerian terrorist convict. He married Sylvie, a French citizen, in 1990, while working as a youth worker in Corbeil-Essonnes. In 1997, he moved his family to Leicester, where Sylvie still lives with their four children.
Lassana is a given name or surname that is an alternative transliteration of Al-Hassan, and may refer to:
The following lists events that happened in 2015 in France.
On 7 January 2015, at about 11:30 a.m. in Paris, France, the employees of the French satirical weekly magazine Charlie Hebdo were targeted in a terrorist shooting attack by two French-born Algerian Muslim brothers, Saïd Kouachi and Chérif Kouachi. Armed with rifles and other weapons, the duo murdered 12 people and injured 11 others; they identified themselves as members of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which claimed responsibility for the attack. They fled after the shooting, triggering a manhunt, and were killed by the GIGN on 9 January. The Kouachi brothers' attack was followed by several related Islamist terrorist attacks across the Île-de-France between 7 and 9 January 2015, including the Hypercacher kosher supermarket siege, in which a French-born Malian Muslim took hostages and murdered four people before being killed by French commandos.
"Je suis Charlie" is a slogan and logo created by French art director Joachim Roncin and adopted by supporters of freedom of speech and freedom of the press after the 7 January 2015 shooting in which twelve people were killed at the offices of the French satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo. It identifies a speaker or supporter with those who were killed at the Charlie Hebdo shooting, and by extension, a supporter of freedom of speech and resistance to armed threats. Some journalists embraced the expression as a rallying cry for the freedom of self-expression.
Elsa Jeanne Cayat was a French psychiatrist and psychoanalyst and a columnist for the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris, France. She was one of 12 victims of the Charlie Hebdo shooting and was killed along with the seven journalists, maintenance worker, one visitor and two police officers. She was the only woman working for Charlie Hebdo to die in the attack. She was one of two Jews killed in the attack, along with Georges Wolinski.
Hypercacher is a chain of kosher supermarkets in France and Italy.
Amedy Coulibaly, also known by the nom de guerre (kunya) Abu Basir al-Ifriqi was a Malian-French man who was the prime suspect in the Montrouge shooting, in which municipal police officer Clarissa Jean-Philippe was shot and killed, and was the hostage-taker and gunman in the Hypercacher Kosher Supermarket siege, in which he killed four hostages before being fatally shot by police.
From 7 to 9 January 2015, terrorist attacks occurred across the Île-de-France region, particularly in Paris. Three attackers killed a total of 17 people in four shooting attacks, and police then killed the three assailants. The attacks also wounded 22 other people. A fifth shooting attack did not result in any fatalities. Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) claimed responsibility and said that the coordinated attacks had been planned for years. The claim of responsibility for the deadly attack on the magazine came in a video showing AQAP commander Nasr Ibn Ali al-Ansi, with gunmen in the background that were later identified as the Kouachi brothers. However, while authorities say the video is authentic, there is no proof that AQAP helped to carry out the attacks. Amedy Coulibaly, who committed another leg of the attacks claimed that he belonged to ISIS before he died.
Hayat Boumeddiene, also known by the nom de guerre (kunya) Umm Basir al-Muhajirah is a French terrorist who participated in the January 2015 Île-de-France attacks. Currently a fugitive, she is wanted as an accomplice of her partner, Amedy Coulibaly, who perpetrated the Montrouge shooting and the Porte de Vincennes siege.
In 2015, France underwent through multiple terrorist attacks. 2015 France attacks may refer to:
Paris attacks may refer to the following:
Latifa Ibn Ziaten, is a French-Moroccan activist. She is the mother of Imad ibn Ziaten, born in 1981, the first service member in Toulouse killed by Mohammed Merah on 11 March 2012.
On 23 March 2018, an Islamic terrorist carried out three attacks in the town of Carcassonne and nearby village of Trèbes in the Aude department in southwestern France, killing three people and injuring fifteen.
This timeline of antisemitism chronicles the facts of antisemitism, hostile actions or discrimination against Jews as a religious or ethnic group, in the 21st century. It includes events in the history of antisemitic thought, actions taken to combat or relieve the effects of antisemitism, and events that affected the prevalence of antisemitism in later years. The history of antisemitism can be traced from ancient times to the present day.
Salim Benghalem, also known by his nom de guerreAbou Mohamed al-Faransi, was a French jihadist and terrorist who worked with the Islamic State to plan the November 2015 Paris attacks. He was killed in November 2017 near Boukamal in Syria.
↑ KARL, JONATHAN (10 February 2015). "White House Says Shooting at Kosher Market in Paris Was 'Random'". ABC News. Archived from the original on 10 February 2015. Retrieved 18 April 2019. "It is entirely legitimate for the American people to be deeply concerned when you've got a bunch of violent, vicious zealots who behead people or randomly shoot a bunch of folks in a deli in Paris," Obama told
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