Statement by Martin SCHULZ, EP President for the opening of the plenary session of January in Strasbourg on the gun attack on French magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris followed by one minute of silence. The President spoke out the name of each victim:&nbsp;Philippe Braham,&nbsp;Franck Brinsolaro, Fr&eacute;d&eacute;ric Boisseau,&nbsp;Jean Cabut,&nbsp;Elsa Cayat,&nbsp;St&eacute;phane Charbonnier,&nbsp;Yohan Cohen,&nbsp;Yoav Hattab,&nbsp;Philippe Honor&eacute;,&nbsp;Clarissa Jean-Philippe,&nbsp;Bernard Maris,&nbsp;Ahmed Merabet,&nbsp;Mustapha Ourrad,&nbsp;Michel Renaud,Fran&ccedil;ois-Michel Saada,&nbsp;Bernard Verlhac and&nbsp;Georges Wolinski.

Strasbourg

plenary session

minute of silence

fight against terrorism (T)

EU - France (T)

freedom of press and media (T)

SCHULZ, Martin (S&D, DE)

Gun attack on French magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris: statement by Martin SCHULZ, EP President followed by one minute of silence

Exterior view of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, (1 shot)

MEPs waiting for the session to begin, having signs 'Je suis Charlie' in front of them or wearing a T-shirt that says 'Je suis Charlie' (4 shots)

SOUNDBITE (French), Martin SCHULZ, EP President , "On behalf of the European Parliament I would like to express my sincere condolences to the families and friends of the victims and I also wish those wounded a swift recovery. 17 people perished, these draughtsmen, police men, working people, simple citizens , Jewish people have died, they died because they defended and embodied what fanatics don't want to accept and that is criticism, humour, satire, freedom of expression. We can live together beyond these issues that are our believe, we have a right to do that, we have a right to live together in safety and security, we have a right to live in freedom."

SOUNDBITE (French), Martin SCHULZ, EP President, "These attacks my dear colleagues are an attack against all of us, we have to react; there are many dangers before us. We can in no way back paddle on our European values in the face of the violence, of the Kalashnikov; we cannot allow fear and anti-Semitism, Islam phobia, or hatred of others to undermine the values that defines the value of the freedom of the press, freedom of expression, tolerance, mutual respect, France has embodied these."

SOUNDBITE (French), Martin SCHULZ, EP President, "We Europeans must defend them as French people did by going out on the streets by millions in a spirit of dignity, in Paris and throughout France, supported by thousands of citizens throughout the world. Today we must fear that caricaturists and journalists may not feel so free anymore, but that they show that violence of arms do not intimidate them. We must once again fear that French Jews feel threatened in their own homeland, in France and in Europe. We must fear that all Muslims are now suspected and deemed to be irresponsible, we must fear that the fear of the other will be stirred up to destabilise us, our society, we must fear this because if this happens terrorist will have won."

SOUNDBITE (French), Martin SCHULZ, EP President, "And we will have lost, we lost freedom. Dear colleagues, we the representatives of the European Parliament embody everything these fanatics detest: peacefully working together between men and women, together we must fight, we must fight together not to be contaminated by the hatred and by terrorists. We must defend freedom, freedom for everybody, in Europe and throughout the world. I would ask you dear colleagues to rise for a minute of silence to honour the memory of the victims."