With Charlie Hebdo Trial Underway, a Knife Attack

2 injured near former offices of satirical newspaper in Paris
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 25, 2020 7:55 AM CDT
With Charlie Hebdo Trial Underway, a Knife Attack
Emergency services at the scene after a knife attack near the former offices of satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo Friday in Paris.   (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

A knife attack in Paris on Friday that seriously injured two people has prompted authorities to launch a terror investigation, reports the AP. The reason? The attack took place near the former offices of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, scene of a terror attack in 2015 that left 12 people dead, reports Reuters. The newspaper has since moved to an undisclosed location. Police have arrested a suspect in the knife attack, though details were scarce. At this point, it's not certain the attack is related to the newspaper, though the 2015 assault is very much back in the headlines these days. The Hebdo trial of 14 people who allegedly helped the attackers is currently taking place elsewhere in the city. The widows of those attackers—brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi—were to testify on Friday.

“I was in my office," a witness told Europe 1 radio on Friday of the knife attack. "I heard screams in the road. I looked out of the window and saw a woman who was lying on the floor and had taken a whack in the face from what was possibly a machete." Both of Friday's victims have injuries considered to be life-threatening. French Prime Minister Jean Castex cut short a scheduled speech on Friday when news of the attack broke. The New York Times reports that al-Qaeda recently issued new threats against the newspaper after it reprinted the satirical cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad that led to the 2015 attack. (More Charlie Hebdo stories.)

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