Heavily armed men shouting "Allahu akbar" stormed the Paris headquarters of a satirical weekly on Wednesday, killing 12 people in an attack that brought more than 100,000 protesters onto streets across France.
The assault on the Charlie Hebdo headquarters, the worst attack in France in decades, sparked a massive manhunt as the two gunmen in black commando gear escaped, executing a wounded police officer with a shot to the head. The men remained on the run late Wednesday, with few clues on their whereabouts and parts of the French capital in lockdown.
The attack sparked global outrage and demonstrations of solidarity in several cities across Europe.
Many protesters in France carried banners reading: "I am Charlie" and the hashtag #JeSuisCharlie was trending worldwide including in Arabic.
French President Francois Hollande called the attack "an act of exceptional barbarity" and "undoubtedly a terrorist attack."
Charlie Hebdo gained notoriety in February 2006 when it reprinted cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed that had originally appeared in Danish daily Jyllands-Posten, causing fury across the Muslim world.
The killers screamed "we have avenged the prophet, we have killed Charlie Hebdo" according to prosecutors.
More on TheLocal.