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Portuguese rally in solidarity with France after Charlie Hebdo attack

Xinhua, January 9, 2015 Adjust font size:

Hundreds of Portuguese gathered in downtown Lisbon Thursday to protest the terror attack that killed at least 12 people at the office of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday.

People were packed below the freedom monument in Rossio square, holding pens, candles and banners reading "I am Charlie," and chanting "Liberte d'expression" (Freedom of expression).

"I am shocked by this barbaric act," said Manuel Gravata, 50, an art historian, holding a black banner reading "I am Charlie." "It was cowardly and goes against freedom," he said.

Fatima Madruga, 51, an artist, who travelled some 25 km from Palmela to attend the protest, also expressed her solidarity with the victims of the terror attack.

"I am here to defend freedom of expression," she said. "It saddens me to see a colleague die for being free. We must all unite."

The protest was an imitation of a rally that took place in France on Wednesday.

The Portuguese government condemned the terror attack and offered condolences to the families of the victims after the attack on Wednesday.

"The Portuguese government utterly condemns the violent attack which took place today in Paris, causing over a dozen deaths and several injuries," the Portuguese Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

Twelve people were killed in the deadliest attack in Paris since 1995, among them 10 journalists, a policeman and an economist invited by the weekly, and 11 others injured with four in critical condition.

Charlie Hebdo, which is based in Paris' 11th arrondissement, was firebombed in 2011, due to the publishing of a controversial series of cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed.

In its last published cartoons, the weekly mocked Abu Bakr al- Baghdadi, leader of the Islamic State, which seized major towns in Iraq and Syria.

One of the three suspects, 18-year-old Hamyd Mourad, turned

himself to police late on Wednesday while a massive manhunt is under way for the other two suspects Said Kouachi, 34, and Cherif Kouachi, 32. Endi