At the office of the French Daily Liberation newspaper in Paris, a gunman opened fire and severely wounded a photographer’s assistant. The Monday shooting may be linked to other recent incidents, such as a shooting in front of the Societe Generale building and a carjacking close to that same location. Also, on Friday a gunman broke into the offices of BFMTV and threatened the journalists. Police report that the description of the BFMTV gunman was similar to that of the gunman at the newspaper.
Interior Minister Manuel Valls announced on Monday that police will be sent to all the French national newspapers. “We will do everything in our power to catch this individual,” Valls said. “In our country, we cannot accept those who attack our fundamental rights, a right that women and men have always fought for all over the world. Lives have been lost over this right.”
Managing editor of Liberation, Fabrice Rousselot, commented to BFMTV about the sense of security that existed at the newspaper before this incident. “Liberation is not and never has been a bunker. Liberation is a place of freedom,” publisher Nicolas Demorand said. “We do not want to work behind bulletproof glass. We do not want to work behind iron curtains. We don’t know the motivation, whether this was an act by a madman, but we can see today that a fundamental freedom has been critically injured.”
