Bid to assassinate freedom has utterly failed: Commentary by ITV's Mark Austin

Paris today was quiet, sad and reflective. And France is a country in mourning over an atrocity in the very heart of its capital city.

There is great shock at the mindless violence that erupted here yesterday but it goes deeper — much deeper — than that.

People here are offended by the assault on something they hold very dear. Paris is a place that prides itself as a centre of art and culture but also above all of free speech, liberty and democracy.

There is a tradition of free expression here. The freedom to satirise, scrutinise and criticise — and, yes, even to offend.

By murdering the editors and cartoonists of Charlie Hebdo, the terrorists were attempting to silence them, to assassinate that freedom.

But the irony is that they have failed — and failed spectacularly. Yes, it was from the terrorists’ point of view a well organised and well executed assault. But you only had to be in the Place de la République last evening to see the extent of their failure.

At the cradle of French democracy, thousands of ordinary Parisians gathered in protest, announcing Je Suis Charlie — I Am Charlie — in tribute to the 12 victims of the attack.

Others held signs that said “Press freedom has no price” or banners reading “We are not afraid”.

They gathered too in cities across France — in Toulouse and in Lyon, where a public building was turned into a candle-lit shrine. Given that the gunmen were still on the loose, this was an extraordinary show of defiance in the face of atrocity.

Today Paris awoke to see the names and the faces of the suspects in the worst terrorist attack carried out in this country for 50 years.

News flashes on television carried interior ministry alerts to be on the look-out for brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi, in their thirties and armed and dangerous.

And with the release of the identities there was also a realisation here in Paris that this ghastly episode could have long-term implications for a French society that has of late already been witnessing a rise in anti-Islam feeling.

When French President François Hollande called the attack an “act of exceptional barbarism” he also significantly called for national unity.