The French President said the threat from terrorism had not diminished and he praised the courage of police officers who gave their lives protecting the citizens of Paris during the attacks in January and subsequent shootings and bombings in November.
Addressing members of France's security forces in Paris, Mr Hollande said more needed to be done in the face of budgetary constraints to ensure there were enough officers to counter the threat posed by Islamist terrorism.
"Today I would like to express our appreciation, the nation's appreciation, to those in January and November who took risks to deal with enemies determined to kill using all means," he said.
"I would like to salute the police officers and the military, who every single day and every single night, patrol our streets and supervise public buildings and places of worship, schools, stations and airports.
"They carry out remarkable work and they are very indispensable.
"But the seriousness of the situation means that now we have to make sure our commitment is at an even higher level and despite budgetary constraints I talked about giving 5,000 extra jobs between now and 2017."
Shortly after Mr Hollande made his tribute to the police a man, reportedly holding a knife and wearing a suspected suicide vest, was shot dead outside a Paris police station.
Ceremonial services will take place across France in memory of the attacks which started at the offices of Charlie Hebdo in January which ended with 17 people dead, and of attacks in Paris in November in which 130 people were killed.
Meanwhile, Sky News has spoken to one of the survivors of the attack at a Jewish supermarket by Islamist gunman Amedy Coulibaly.
Alain Couanon said he was profoundly affected by the incident but it didn't change him.
"My thoughts haven't changed in the last year," he said. It was a horrible massacre but it didn't change me. It shocked me, of course, and it was a terrible memory, but it didn't change my life or change the way I live."
Mr Couanon said he remembered Coulibaly being polite to the hostages, offering them food and water, and that he appeared concerned about a vomiting child.
At one point the hostages were concerned about an injured man who appeared to be dying and Coulibaly asked if they wanted him to kill him.
said 'You want me to kill him? I can do it'. We said 'no'. He said it normally, quietly, like he was asking someone if they wanted a cup of coffee."
Yesterday, President Hollande unveiled plaques outside the publication's offices, at the spot where a policeman was shot and at the supermarket where four of the victims were killed a year ago this week.
He was accompanied by families of those who died, Prime Minister Manuel Valls, and the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo.
The satirical magazine published an anniversary edition one year after the attack, poking fun at God and leading to protests from the Vatican.
The magazine featured an armed man representing God on the cover, accompanied by the headline "1 An Apres - L'Asssassin Court Toujors" (One Year On: The Assassin Is Still Out There).
The Vatican criticised the magazine for failing to "acknowledge or to respect believers' faith in God, regardless of the religion".
"Behind the deceptive flag of uncompromising secularism, the weekly is forgetting once more what religious leaders of every faith unceasingly repeat... using God to justify hatred is a genuine blasphemy, as Pope Francis has said several times," a spokesperson said.
The attack on 7 January 2015, carried out by two Muslim extremists in revenge for publication in the magazine of cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed, left 12 people dead.
Brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi forced their way into the building with assault rifles, killing 11 people and injuring 11 more. Upon leaving the building they also shot dead a French police officer.
The pair shouted "Allahu akbar" (God is great) during the assault and were later killed in a fight with police on an industrial estate 19 miles (30km) northeast of Paris.
Another Islamist, Amedy Coulibaly, killed four people at a kosher supermarket in an attack that revived concerns about anti-Semitism in the country with Europe's largest Jewish community.
One million copies of Charlie Hebdo's anniversary edition, featuring a collection of cartoons by five of the magazine's cartoonists killed in the attack, will be distributed for sale in French newsagents, with thousands more exported for sale overseas.
But while millions of people rushed to buy the first edition after the attack, circulation of the controversial publication has slowed to about 100,000 copies a week and there were no crowds trying to buy the anniversary edition.
No comments:
Post a Comment