Thousands of people gathered in Paris Sunday to mark the anniversary of Jihadist gunmen attacks on the satirical Charlie Hebdo magazine and a Jewish supermarket last January that killed 17 people.
The event Sunday also remembered the attacks in November when Muslim extremists killed 130 people at several locations across France's capital city. Since then, France has declared a state of emergency and closed three mosques thought to have been "radicalizing" their members.
President Francois Hollande and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo attended the ceremonies Sunday at the Place de la Republique where they unveiled a plaque in memory of the the victims of the attacks.
French rocker and national icon Johnny Hallyday is scheduled to sing with the army choir in a special musical performance later Sunday.
Mosques opening doors
Meanwhile, hundreds of French mosques are opening their doors to the public for a few days in an effort to educate non-Muslims about their culture, at a time when Islamic extremist attacks have fostered negative impressions of the faith.
While not all of France's 2,500 mosques are participating in the event, the most prominent ones are, including the Grand Mosque of Paris. The effort is backed by the country's leading Muslim body, the French Council of the Muslim Faith.
The mosques are inviting people to meet "normal Muslims" and partake in refreshments, guided tours, workshops and discussions, or even one of the five daily prayer sessions.
The event has been dubbed "a brotherly cup of tea."
Some information for this report came from AP, AFP and Reuters.
Source: http://www.voanews.com/content/france-remembers-attack-victims/3138738.html