Defiant French mourn 12 dead in newspaper attack

Employees and journalists of the newspaper "La Marseillaise" hold a journal of the day, reading" I am Charlie" , in front of the newspaper building during a minute of silence , in Marseille, southern France, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2015, a day after masked gunmen stormed the offices of a satirical newspaper and killed 12 people. French police hunted Thursday for two heavily armed men — one with a terrorism conviction and a history in jihadi networks — in the methodical killing of 12 people at a satirical newspaper that caricatured the Prophet Muhammad. The prime minister announced several overnight arrests and said the possibility of a new attack "is our main concern." (AP Photo/Claude Paris) Employees and journalists of the newspaper "La Marseillaise" hold a journal of the day, reading" I am Charlie" , in front of the newspaper building during a minute of silence , in Marseille, southern France, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2015, a day after masked gunmen stormed the offices of a satirical newspaper and killed 12 people. French police hunted Thursday for two heavily armed men — one with a terrorism conviction and a history in jihadi networks — in the methodical killing of 12 people at a satirical newspaper that caricatured the Prophet Muhammad. The prime minister announced several overnight arrests and said the possibility of a new attack "is our main concern." (AP Photo/Claude Paris)

By Associated Press January 8, 2015 3 min read

PARIS (AP) – A young woman wept while complete strangers on Paris’ normally bustling subway stared at each other in solidarity at noon Thursday, as the train ground to a halt for one minute of haunting silence.

Muslims at The Paris Mosque fell quiet too, a day after the biggest terror attack on French soil in living memory. Catholics listened inside Notre Dame Cathedral as its gargantuan bell tolled, the sound echoing around the Ile de le Cite.

President Francois Hollande ordered flags flown at half-staff, and the Eiffel Tower will switch off its lights and shroud tourists in dark.

Thursday marked a moment for an often-divided France to come together as one nation to mourn. Twelve people were killed in the shooting on and around the premises of satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in central Paris on Wednesday, in which the gunmen shouted “Allahu akbar!” as they fired.

Now, the French are trying to understand why.