In Paris and beyond, people held rallies to mourn and commemorate the victims of the Wednesday terrorist attack on the office of French magazine Charlie Hebdo.
Photos: Thousands in Europe hold up pens in solidarity after terrorist attack
Joel Saget/AFP/Getty
Demonstrators held signs that read “Je suis Charlie” (I am Charlie) and defended the freedom of the press.
A rally at the Place de la Republique in Paris. (Joel Saget/AFP/Getty)
Signs from the rally at the Place de la Republique in Paris. (Joel Saget/AFP/Getty)
Paris journalism students stand in solidarity with the murdered Charlie Hebdo journalists. (Geoffroy van der Hesselt/Anadolu Agency/Getty)
Beautiful: across France, people rally in solidarity with #CharlieHebdo and freedom of speech pic.twitter.com/lMJg5uITm1
— Yair Rosenberg (@Yair_Rosenberg) January 7, 2015 At least 12 people, eight of whom were journalists, were killed in the attack. Many protesters held up pens as a symbol of the murdered journalists.
The editor of Charlie Hebdo, Stéphane Charbonnier, who was among the victims, said in 2012: “I don’t feel as though I’m killing someone with a pen. I’m not putting lives at risk. When activists need a pretext to justify their violence, they always find it.” The pens served as a commemoration of that sentiment, and the belief that the pen is mightier than the sword.
This is real strength: Parisians silently hold up pens in protest of #CharlieHebdo massacre via @oemoral @GoSruthi pic.twitter.com/Q7dI0ixlf4
— Laura Wells (@wellsla) January 7, 2015 
Journalists hold up press cards and others hold up pens at the Place de la Republique rally in Paris. (Martin Bureau/AFP/Getty)
Protesters holding up pens at a rally in Rennes, in western France, in solidarity with the murdered journalists of Charlie Hebdo. (Damien Meyer/AFP)
Rallies were held throughout France and beyond:
People rally in the Place Royale in Nantes, France, in solidarity with the murdered journalists of Charlie Hebdo. (Georges Gobet/AFP/Getty)
Protesters in Nantes wearing "Je Suis Charlie" placards on their backs. (Georges Gobet/AFP/Getty)
In a rally in Marseilles, a woman holds a sign with a quote from murdered Charlie Hebdo editor Stephane Charbonnier: "I prefer to die on my feet than live on my knees." (Boris Horvat/AFP/Getty)
Vieux Port #Marseille #CharlieHebdo pic.twitter.com/8qsN6wYN2Y
— Klem (@clementvr) January 7, 2015 France rallies after Charlie Hebdo attack. The placard reads: 'Charb died free' http://t.co/Th3ycElITf pic.twitter.com/Z4xltg6wyx
— i100 (@thei100) January 7, 2015 Lyon pic.twitter.com/GFjX2iwrUc
— Old Holborn (@Holbornlolz) January 7, 2015 
This man, in Rennes (western France), is holding up a Charlie Hebdo cover in which the Prophet Muhammad is weeping: "It's hard to be loved by fools."
(Damien Meyer/AFP/Getty)
#JeSuisCharlie: People gathering next to FrenchEmbassy in #Berlin to show #solidarity w/ #CharlieHebdo pic.twitter.com/tZVcM1KJT2 MT @AnneLaumen
— GermanForeignOffice (@GermanyDiplo) January 7, 2015 Amsterdam #JeSuisCharlie pic.twitter.com/syCb012Sa1
— Old Holborn (@Holbornlolz) January 7, 2015 Crowd at Trafalgar Square holding a vigil in solidarity with those killed today in the #ChalieHebdo attack pic.twitter.com/Eoc0XPxf3j
— Blathnaid Healy (@blathnaidhealy) January 7, 2015 I didn't have a pen so I held up my keyboard instead. #freedomofspeech #JeSuisCharlie pic.twitter.com/QxHXw3tmXZ
— susiebubble (@susiebubble) January 7, 2015 See More:
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