Twelve Killed in Paris Attack -- Gunmen Remain at Large; Imagine a World
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN HOST (voice-over): Tonight: "I don't feel as though I'm killing someone with a pen. I'm not putting lives at risk." Those were the words of Stephane Charbonnier, editor of the satirical magazine, "Charlie Hebdo." Now Charbonnier is dead, one of 12 people gunned down in a brazen terrorist attack in Paris, and we are standing by for the French President Francois Hollande to speak to the nation at this hour.</s>AMANPOUR: Good evening, everyone, welcome to the program. I'm Christiane Amanpour. A massive manhunt is underway in France at this hour for two of the terrorists who have killed 12 and left 11 more wounded in a direct attack on the press. This morning, gunmen stormed the offices of the French magazine, "Charlie Hebdo," and the French President Francois Hollande is addressing the nation right now.</s>AMANPOUR: Well, that was the French President Francois Hollande in a fairly short address to the nation, trying to galvanize the nation, saying that this attack, as bad as it was -- and it is the worst terror attack in Europe in a decade -- will not divide the nation and will not cause friend to relinquish the values that makes it French, freedom of expression, its culture, its tolerance and its peaceful unity together. He obviously was trying to encourage a people who are clearly very, very traumatized by what has happened today. And let's just recap, the terrorists remain at large. The French authorities say they are looking for three, quote, "criminals." Some of the violence that occurred earlier today was captured by ordinary citizens as it happened.</s>AMANPOUR: Now, again, this was an attack on the offices of the French satirical weekly, "Charlie Hebdo," and one of the dead is the editor, Stephane Charbonnier, who once said, quote, "I would rather die standing that live on my knees." Today, as I said, he was killed along with 11 other people, many of them colleagues. And 11 more are wounded; four of them are very seriously wounded. Joining me now is Natalie Nougayrede. She is a columnist, a writer and foreign affairs commentator for "The Guardian." She's the former editor of the French newspaper, "Le Monde Diplomatique (sic)." Natalie, welcome back to this -- "Le Monde" -- exactly, "Le Monde." What do you make of what happened today? Can you imagine this happening, an attack on the press in France?</s>NATALIE NOUGAYREDE, FORMER EDITOR, "LE MONDE": You know, looking at these pictures, Christiane, it's just -- it sends shivers down your back. We all know that journalists are at risk in their jobs in many parts of the world, and certainly in war zones. And seeing journalists getting shot in the middle of Paris, in the middle of a European capital, is quite traumatic. I think Hollande, as you've seen, will definitely try to create a sense of national unity in the face of this attack. It is perceived clearly as an attack on the freedom of the press. It is perceived as a terrorist attack. The indications that we have, this assailant calling out, "Allahu Akbar," the indications are that it may have strong Islamic ingredients. And certainly the debate in France will unfold along those lines.</s>AMANPOUR: Before we get to that debate, which is obviously crucial, what can you tell us about any of the sources you may have spoken to, any of the claims of responsibility? Obviously this is a very early period in time. But there seem to be tweets; there seem to be sort of by extension claims of responsibility whether it's by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, some say an I.S. website has sort of praised what happened. Obviously it's early days and law enforcement are cautioning us against drawing any conclusions. But was there anything that would lead you to believe, as a former editor of a French newspaper, that there was a particular target?</s>NOUGAYREDE: You know, when as you said, all the indications are still fairly fragmentary and we do have to be careful, but when you say the word, the name "Charlie Hebdo" in France, you think about the way they published, republished the caricatures of Muhammad approximately eight years ago. And how this very much labeled them as a newspaper that was perceived as provocative, as insulting to certain strands of the Islamic world or populations. And so immediately, as a French person, if you hear that "Charlie Hebdo" is being targeted, then you do think automatically about Islamic fundamentalism. Whether this will be confirmed by events is something else. And indeed, French authorities are pretty careful and have not made statements at this point, saying that it Islamic. Hollande has not gone down that road yet. It may be ahead of us.</s>AMANPOUR: And again, you were editor at the time when all of this was going on. What was the atmosphere in the sort of press circles about the lines and the boundaries that "Charlie Hebdo" was pushing, even despite the fact that a few years ago, it got firebombed for its -- for the caricatures that were deemed to be offensive by some quarters of Muslim society?</s>NOUGAYREDE: "Charlie Hebdo" has always been seen as very resilient, in fact, in the face of threats, attacks; in the run-up to this incident, there were possibly threats that targeted "Charlie Hebdo." This was not something that, as I -- as far as I understand, had I -- had intensified, but they were regularly targeted and Stephane Charbonnier had published an op-ed approximately a year -- over a year ago, saying we stand for freedom of expression. We are not racist. And he really just went -- defended this and stressed this because he saw that the messages they were receiving led to the idea that "Charlie Hebdo" was anti-Arab and anti-Muslim overall.</s>AMANPOUR: And he said he wasn't.</s>NOUGAYREDE: -- he -- of course. He said, "We stand for freedom of expression. We stand for equality, tolerance, diversity and indeed this is certainly a charge that you cannot hold up against "Charlie Hebdo." They were certainly open-minded and very much in democratic values.</s>AMANPOUR: Were you surprised at the short length of the president's speech? Did you expect it to be more? Did you expect it to be more detailed? And given that he personally is fairly unpopular, his policies are unpopular, how do you think French people will react to his call for unity and for strength and perseverance in the face of this terrible attack?</s>NOUGAYREDE: I think he has, you know, sadly, ironically, in a tragic -- in tragic circumstances, there is something here for Hollande to play. And I'm careful with using that word "play." But there is something for him. There's a card to play for him in -- on today's domestic political scene in France. His rating is, indeed, very low. He will do his utmost to appear like the rallying, fatherly figure that stands out for fundamental values of the French Republic. But what's happening in France right now -- and we'll see how this develops -- is that people are ready to come out on the streets. And people are starting to say -- I've had messages from friends in different cities in France saying, "I'm ready to go down the street and I'm going to demonstrate in favor of the republic and democratic values."</s>AMANPOUR: Well, do you know what? In fact, they are. They're coming out to the Place de la Republique. People are carrying the flag and this, "Je suis Charlie" is trending, as we say in the new social media world. But this has galvanized people and we'll see where it leads. Natalie -- go ahead.</s>NOUGAYREDE: Absolutely. And I also think that political commentators are going to be watching what the far right movement, what the Front National is going to say about the --</s>AMANPOUR: Well, what do you think, because a cynic would say that an already popular in terms of poll ratings, National Front, could make hay out of this. But that would be very dangerous for them, too, wouldn't it?</s>NOUGAYREDE: That's indeed -- if I had to guess, I would say that Marine Le Pen will try to take the high ground on this. This incident, if it is Islamic terrorism, will in any case completely feed her rhetoric, her political narrative, completely boost her vision of the world and how she's trying to rally more support in the run-up to the French 2017 presidential elections. She doesn't need to say a lot after this incident. She will try to take the high ground.</s>AMANPOUR: There are so many violent and political currents at play. Natalie Nougayrede, thank you very much. Thanks for joining us tonight. And as we said, this attack in Paris has provoked a huge reaction around the world, not only on social media. The hashtag and the phrase "Je suis Charlie," as I said, "I am Charlie," has gone viral. It's an act of solidarity with the magazine. And the phrase having well over 2,000 tweets per minute. We'll have more reaction and analysis on this breaking story when we come back.