UN Security Council falls silent for Charlie Hebdo victims
AFP
UNITED NATIONS, US- The UN Security Council on Thursday observed a moment of silence in memory of the 12 people killed in an Islamist attack on the Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris.
The 15 envoys rose and the room fell silent after Chilean Ambassador Cristian Barros Melet expressed the council's "profound sadness over the intolerable attack that took place yesterday in Paris."
The council has strongly condemned the "barbaric and cowardly terrorist attack" that killed the satirical magazine's chief editor and three cartoonists.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon made an appeal for tolerance as he evoked the horrifying image of a French policeman shot dead at close range by the gunmen as he lay wounded on a sidewalk.
"We now know that policeman's name. He was Ahmed Merabet. He himself was a Muslim," Ban told reporters at UN headquarters.
"This is yet another reminder of what we are facing together. It should never be seen as a war of religion, for religion or on religion."
Video footage of Merabet falling to the ground after being shot, writhing in pain, have shocked the world. The attackers methodically approached him as he lay prone on the ground and shot him at close range.
The Charlie Hebdo killings are "an assault on our common humanity, designed to terrify and incite," said Ban.
"Giving in to hatred and sowing division only guarantees a spiral of violence -- precisely what terrorists seek. We must not fall into that trap."
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UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon made an appeal for tolerance as he evoked the horrifying image of a French policeman shot dead at close range by the gunmen as he lay wounded on a sidewalk.
"We now know that policeman's name. He was Ahmed Merabet. He himself was a Muslim," Ban told reporters at UN headquarters.
"This is yet another reminder of what we are facing together. It should never be seen as a war of religion, for religion or on religion."
Video footage of Merabet falling to the ground after being shot, writhing in pain, have shocked the world. The attackers methodically approached him as he lay prone on the ground and shot him at close range.
The Charlie Hebdo killings are "an assault on our common humanity, designed to terrify and incite," said Ban.
"Giving in to hatred and sowing division only guarantees a spiral of violence -- precisely what terrorists seek. We must not fall into that trap."
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