Reuters/Charles PlatiauFrench Prime Minister Manuel Valls gestures as he speaks during the questions to the government session at the National Assembly in Paris December 16, 2014. Manuel Valls, Prime Minister of France, made a bold statement on Saturday, declaring war against radical Islam, according to the New York Times.
"It is a war against terrorism, against jihadism, against radical Islam, against everything that is aimed at breaking fraternity, freedom, solidarity," Mr. Valls declared in a speech.
Hundreds of thousands of people have flooded the streets of France to pay tribute to the many who have died during a bloody and violent week in their country.
The tributes happen as the country remains on high alert. The New York Times reports that the French government is putting 500 more troops on the streets this weekend. This, a day after brothers Cherif Kouachi, 32, and Said Kouachi, 34, were killed in a shootout at a printing business in the small northern town of Dammartin-en-Goele where they had reportedly taken at least one hostage.
A gunman thought to be Amedy Coulibaly, 32, was killed in a shootout with commandos at a kosher supermarket in eastern Paris, after he had at taken at least five people hostage. Four hostages were killed.
And the hunt for Hayat Boumeddiene, France's most-wanted woman, continues as well. She has fled to Syria by traveling through Turkey, police sources confirmed to Le Figaro on Saturday. Boumeddiene is believed to be the partner of Amedy Coulibaly, who is accused in the murder of a policewoman in France on Thursday.
"I am Charlie," is the slogan many will have on posters in the streets this weekend. It has brought people together against the Islamic jihadists who killed 12 people in the attack on Wednesday, including the magazine's editor-in-chief and leading cartoonists.
AFP/File Valery HacheTens of thousands of people some holding up signs that read, "Je suis Charlie" march during a rally along the sea front in the Mediterranean city of Nice, on January 10, 2015