France is home to the largest Muslim population in Europe.

Many of the Muslims in

France emigrated there from French colonies in Africa in the mid-1900s after immigration laws
were relaxed in France. Since they first came to France, though, the Muslim population has been
alienated from the French culture and seen as outsiders. The French government has even gone
so far as to prohibit Muslim women from wearing burqas that cover their faces in public, which
is an important part of Islamic culture. They feel as though France governs them by a different
set of laws, especially when it comes to freedom of speech.
The fact that Muslims arent respected in France became impossible to ignore when
Charlie Hebdo, a satirical French magazine, featured cartoons of the Islamic prophet
Muhammad, many of them very vulgar. In the Muslim religion it is consider blasphemy to
portray an image of the prophet, and, in the eyes of many Muslims, it is punishable by death. The
magazine has been publishing images of Muhammad for years, and while they receive a lot of
support due to their right of freedom of speech, they have also received a lot of backlash. In early
2006, Charlie Hebdo issued an edition that featured a weeping Muhammad on the cover. After its
publication, the president of France warned against doing things that would stir up any religious
groups and two Muslim organizations sued the paper. Later, in 2011, the paper issued another
edition that featured Muhammad as the editor-in-chief and the next day the Charlie Hebdo
offices were attacked and their website was hacked, but no one was killed or injured.
Despite threats from Muslim extremists, Charlie Hebdo continued to publish papers
feature depictions of Muhammad on the cover. On January 7, 2015, the Charlie Hebdo offices
were again attacked, but this time it was the largest terrorist attack in France since the 1961 train
bombing. The morning of the attack, two gunman entered Rue Nicolas-Appert, the location of
Charlie Hebdos archives. They quickly realized they had gone to the wrong address and moved
to 10 Rue Nicolas-Appert. Once there, the gunman shot one of the buildings maintenance men
and forced a cartoonist to let them into the newsroom where the staff was gathered for an
editorial meeting. The gunmen then opened fire on the room while asking for specific people,
notably the editor Charb, and killing them. They then fled to their car to get away while opening
fire on the police. A manhunt ensued until the next day when the suspects were reported robbing
a gas station. The police located the suspects in a printing firm outside of Paris. Police
surrounded the building as the two gunmen emerged and fired. They were both killed.

In total, twelve people were killed and several others were injured. Among the killed was
the editor of Charlie Hebdo, four cartoonists, several columnists, and one police officer. Only
one woman was killed and the woman who was forced to let the attackers in the building was
spared. Several key staff members were absent on the day of the attack, some of which were on
vacation and others were just running late.
France and the rest of the world immediately responded with solidarity to the newspaper,
claiming Je suis Charlie. The term was chanted by marchers and became a trending hashtag on
social media. While the support was for the freedom of speech that the newspaper displayed, it
furthered the gap between Muslims and the rest of the world and encouraged hate speech.

http://theweek.com/articles/535096/frances-alienated-muslims
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/foreigners/2015/01/_8_lessons_from_charlie_h
ebdo_attack_what_we_have_learned_about_the_terrorists.2.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/01/16/how-images-of-the-prophetmuhammad-became-forbidden/
http://www.businessinsider.com/history-of-how-charlie-hebdo-became-a-top-terrorist-target2015-1
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30708237