Attack on Charlie Hebdo Attempts to Inhibit Free Speech: Newspaper Guild

The purpose of the Charlie Hebdo magazine attack was to inhibit free speech, Bernard Lunzer, president of the US-based Newspaper Guild, assumes.

MOSCOW, January 7 (Sputnik), Daria Chernyshova – The goal of the Wednesday attack on the Paris office of the Charlie Hebdo magazine was to inhibit free speech, Bernard Lunzer, president of the US-based Newspaper Guild, told Sputnik.

"We are saddened and angered by the murders at Charlie Hebdo in France. Free speech is a critical value to free people and this slaughter is directly intended to inhibit such speech," Lunzer said.

At least 12 people were killed on Wednesday when three gunmen armed with Kalashnikov rifles entered the Charlie Hebdo offices in central Paris. The victims included ten journalists and two police officers. The gunmen were reportedly shouting "Allah Akbar" during the shooting. They escaped the building and remain at large. A nationwide manhunt is underway.

French President Francois Hollande called the tragedy a terrorist attack. Following the attack, the terror alert in France's Ile-de-France region, which includes Paris, was raised to the highest level.

The leaders of Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and other nations have condemned the attack in strongest terms.

The satirical Charlie Hebdo magazine had previously received threats from radical Islamists after publishing caricatures depicting the prophet Muhammad, which is prohibited to the followers of Islam. In 2011, after the publication of controversial cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad the magazine's former offices were fire-bombed.