Reports that French police questioned an 8-year-old after he allegedly made comments in school in praise of terrorists have highlighted fears that the authorities may be going too far in their crackdown on hate speech. 
 
 Police in the southern city of Nice said they questioned the child and his father on Wednesday following a report by the school’s headmaster. 
 
 The child raised concern when he refused to take part in a minute's silence for the victims of a January 7 attack in which Islamist gunmen shot dead 12 people at the Paris offices of satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, according to Marcel Authier, in charge of the region's public security. 
 
 The boy's teacher said the child also expressed "solidarity" with the gunmen, who claimed their gruesome attacks were justified by Charlie Hebdo's cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, Islam's holiest figure. 
 
 "In the current context, the school principal decided to report to police what had happened," said Authier, who stressed no complaint had been filed against the boy. 
 
 "We summoned the child and his father to try to understand how an eight-year-old boy could hold such radical ideas," he added. "Obviously, the child doesn't understand what he's saying." 
 
 The boy's lawyer Sefen Guez Guez was not immediately available for comment but on his Twitter feed he wrote that the child admitted having said the words: "I am with the terrorists." 
 
 According to the tweet, when police asked the child what the word "terrorism" meant, he replied: "I don't know." 
 
 Soon after, the Collective Against Islamophobia in France (CCIF), a leading anti-racism watchdog, released a statement denouncing “the collective hysteria that has engulfed France since early January”. 
 
 Repression vs freedom of expression 
 
 The Charlie Hebdo murders kicked off three days of Islamist attacks in Paris that left 17 people dead and roiled the country, raising uncomfortable questions about homegrown jihadism and the failure to integrate some of the country's most vulnerable populations. 
 
 While hundreds of thousands of people marched through French cities in protest against terrorism and in defence of free speech, isolated cases of praise for the attackers, particularly on social media, prompted government members to call for swift and exemplary punishment. 
 
 In the two weeks that followed the gruesome attacks, French prosecutors launched 117 legal proceedings for “incitement to racial hatred” and “glorification of terrorism”. A third have already led to tough sentences, including 12 jail terms. 
 
 As the government mulls new legislation aimed at tackling homegrown jihadism, rights groups and members of the judiciary have warned against attempts to curb basic liberties. 
 
 On January 16, Amnesty International released a statement warning of “the risk that these arrests violate freedom of expression”. Four days later, the Syndicat de la magistrature, a leading magistrates’ trade union, urged prosecutors to “resist the wave of emotion” and the calls for “immediate repression”. 
 
 But polls suggest a vast majority of the French are in favour of stiffer penalties for Islamic extremists. According to an Ipsos survey published by Le Monde on Wednesday, 89% back restrictions on free speech on the Internet when it comes to jihadist propaganda, and 90% want jihadists who travel to Syria to be stripped of their French nationality. 
 
 (FRANCE 24 with AFP) 
 
 Date created : 2015-01-29 ||||| Child expresses ‘radical ideas’ and ‘solidarity’ with Hebdo gunmen after refusing to take part in minute’s silence in honour of victims 
 
 An eight-year-old boy in France was questioned by police for half an hour Wednesday after he allegedly made comments in school in praise of terrorists, police said. 
 
 The child triggered concern when he refused to take part in a minute’s silence at his school in the southern city of Nice after Islamist gunmen shot dead 12 people at the Paris offices of the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo on 7 January, according to Marcel Authier, in charge of the region’s public security. 
 
 The boy’s teacher said the child also expressed “solidarity” with the gunmen. 
 
 “In the current context, the principal of the school decided to report to police what had happened,” said Authier, who stressed no complaint had been filed against the boy. 
 
 “We summoned the child and his father to try and comprehend how an eight-year-old boy could hold such radical ideas,” he added. 
 
 “Obviously, the child doesn’t understand what he’s saying.” 
 
 The boy’s lawyer Sefen Guez Guez was not immediately available for comment but on his Twitter feed (@IbnSalah) he wrote that the child admitted to police saying the words: “I am with the terrorists.” 
 
 Yet when police asked what the word “terrorism” meant, he replied: “I don’t know”, according to the tweet. 
 
 “Father and son are deeply shocked by their treatment which illustrates the collective hysteria that has engulfed France since early January,” said the Collective Against Islamophobia in France (CCIF) in a statement. 
 
 The Charlie Hebdo murders kicked off three days of Islamist attacks in Paris that left 17 people dead and traumatised the country. ||||| (CNN) A pair of dramatic raids Friday in France led to the killing of three terrorists -- one suspected in the fatal shooting of a policewoman and four hostages, the other two in the massacre at the offices of Charlie Hebdo magazine -- and to the freeing of more than a dozen people being held hostage. 
 
 The French government's work is not over. There's still a lot of healing to do, a lot of questions to answer about how to prevent future attacks, and the pursuit of a woman wanted in the policewoman's shooting. 
 
 Hollande: We are proud of our police 
 
 Hollande: We are proud of our police 01:04 
 
 Hollande: We are proud of our police 
 
 Still, as Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said, "The nation is relieved tonight." 
 
 Latest updates at 8 p.m. ET 
 
 •The wife of suspect Cherif Kouachi and the girlfriend of hostage taker Amedy Coulibaly-- Hayat Boumedienne -- exchanged 500 phone calls in 2014, according to Paris prosecutor Francois Molin. The wife told investigators that Cherif and Coulibaly knew each well. 
 
 • Cherif Kouachi, a suspect in the Charlie Hebdo slaughter, visited Yemen in 2011 and French authorities were aware of his contacts with terrorist organizations in Yemen and Syria, Molins said at a press conference. 
 
 • The government of Yemen has launched an investigation into a possible al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula link to the Charlie Hebdo magazine attack, Mohammed Albasha, Yemen's spokesman in Washington, tweeted Friday. 
 
 • Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has claimed responsibility for orchestrating the deadly terrorist attack on the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo, the founder of the magazine The Intercept , Jeremy Scahill, told CNN. CNN has not independently confirmed this claim. 
 
 • Four hostages were killed and 15 survived in the standoff between an armed terrorist and police at a Paris kosher grocery store on Friday, according to Israeli government sources who characterized a phone conversation between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and French President François Hollande. 
 
 • U.S. President Barack Obama said he wants the people of France to know that the United States "stands with you today, stands with you tomorrow" after this week's terror. He told a crowd in Tennessee that "we stand for freedom and hope and dignity of all human beings, (and) that's what Paris stands for." 
 
 • The FBI and U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a bulletin to law enforcement across the United States discussing the Paris terrorist attack this week and the sophistication of the tactics, a U.S. law enforcement source told CNN. The bulletin says the attacks demonstrated "a degree of sophistication and training traditionally not seen in recent small armed attacks," the official said. 
 
 • A man claiming to be Amedy Coulibaly, the suspected hostage-taker at the Paris grocery store, told CNN affiliate BFMTV that he belonged to the Islamist militant group ISIS . CNN cannot independently confirm the authenticity of the recording. 
 
 Charlie Hebdo attackers holed up in print shop 
 
 The day's drama began in Dammartin-en-Goele, where brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi ended up in a print shop in an industrial area. 
 
 A salesman, who identified himself only as Didier, told France Info radio that he shook one of the gunman's hands at about 8:30 a.m. as they arrived at the business. Didier said he first thought the man, who was dressed in black and heavily armed, was a police officer. 
 
 As he left, the armed man said, "Go, we don't kill civilians." Didier said, "It wasn't normal. I did not know what was going on." 
 
 Photos: Manhunt for terror suspects in France Photos: Manhunt for terror suspects in France Helicopters fly over a printing shop in Dammartin-en-Goele, France, where there was a standoff Friday, January 9, between police and two men suspected in the Charlie Hebdo shootings earlier this week. Cherif and Said Kouachi, the two brothers wanted in the case, were killed by security forces, authorities said. Hide Caption 1 of 25 Photos: Manhunt for terror suspects in France French authorities released photographs of the Kouachi brothers, warning that both could be armed and dangerous. A third suspect, Hamyd Mourad, surrendered to police earlier this week, according to the news agency Agence France-Presse. Hide Caption 2 of 25 Photos: Manhunt for terror suspects in France Police officers leave after storming the printing shop in Dammartin-en-Goele on January 9. Hide Caption 3 of 25 Photos: Manhunt for terror suspects in France Smoke rises from the building in Dammartin-en-Goele, a town about 40 kilometers (25 miles) northeast of Paris. Hide Caption 4 of 25 Photos: Manhunt for terror suspects in France Police take position on a roof during the standoff. Hide Caption 5 of 25 Photos: Manhunt for terror suspects in France A bird flies overhead as police snipers take aim from a roof. Hide Caption 6 of 25 Photos: Manhunt for terror suspects in France French gendarmes stand guard as a nearby school is evacuated in Dammartin-en-Goele on January 9. Hide Caption 7 of 25 Photos: Manhunt for terror suspects in France Children wait inside a school before being picked up by their parents. Dammartin-en-Goele residents were told to stay inside during the standoff, and schools were put on lockdown, the mayor's media office told CNN. Hide Caption 8 of 25 Photos: Manhunt for terror suspects in France A police officer checks a car in Dammartin-en-Goele. Hide Caption 9 of 25 Photos: Manhunt for terror suspects in France French authorities block access to a road leading to Dammartin-en-Goele on January 9. Hide Caption 10 of 25 Photos: Manhunt for terror suspects in France Armed security forces fly in Dammartin-en-Goele on January 9. Hide Caption 11 of 25 Photos: Manhunt for terror suspects in France Police vans line up in Dammartin-en-Goele on January 9. Hide Caption 12 of 25 Photos: Manhunt for terror suspects in France Police officers communicate inside a school in Dammartin-en-Goele. Hide Caption 13 of 25 Photos: Manhunt for terror suspects in France Police and military forces take positions in Dammartin-en-Goele. Hide Caption 14 of 25 Photos: Manhunt for terror suspects in France A police officer stands guard in Fleury, France, on Thursday, January 8. Hide Caption 15 of 25 Photos: Manhunt for terror suspects in France French soldiers patrol the Gare du Nord railway station in Paris on January 8. Hide Caption 16 of 25 Photos: Manhunt for terror suspects in France Police walk down a street in Corcy, France, on January 8. Hide Caption 17 of 25 Photos: Manhunt for terror suspects in France On January 8, police tape and vehicles block off the entrance to a gas station north of Paris where the two suspects were reportedly seen the night before. Hide Caption 18 of 25 Photos: Manhunt for terror suspects in France French police officers gather January 8 in Longpont, France, about 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) from where the suspects were reportedly spotted. Hide Caption 19 of 25 Photos: Manhunt for terror suspects in France French police patrol a street in Corcy on January 8. Hide Caption 20 of 25 Photos: Manhunt for terror suspects in France A police officer stands guard in front of Paris' Elysee Palace on January 8. Hide Caption 21 of 25 Photos: Manhunt for terror suspects in France Police stand guard in front of an apartment building in the Croix-Rouge suburb of Reims, France, early on January 8. Forensics officers were looking for evidence related to the three suspects. Hide Caption 22 of 25 Photos: Manhunt for terror suspects in France Sharpshooters are seen outside during the operation in Reims. Hide Caption 23 of 25 Photos: Manhunt for terror suspects in France Forensics officers are seen through a window in Reims. Hide Caption 24 of 25 Photos: Manhunt for terror suspects in France French national police arrive at a police station in Charleville-Mezieres, France, on Wednesday, January 7. Hide Caption 25 of 25 
 
 The gunmen told police that they wanted to die as martyrs, Yves Albarello, who is in France's Parliament, said on channel iTele. The area, meanwhile, was locked down -- with children stuck in schools, roads closed and shops shuttered. 
 
 Shortly before 5 p.m., gunshots and at least three large explosions pierced the relative silence. . 
 
 Soon after, men could be seen on the roof of the building where the brothers had holed up. Four helicopters landed nearby. 
 
 Word came that the brothers were dead and that a man who had been hiding in the building was safe, said Bernard Corneille, the mayor of nearby Othis. 
 
 Hostages at kosher grocery store 
 
 At the same time, in a different setting near Paris's Porte de Vincennes about 40 kilometers (25 miles) away, a similar crisis played out at a kosher store. 
 
 Amedy Coulibaly -- the same man who, authorities said, is suspected with Hayat Boumeddiene of killing a policewoman Thursday south of Paris -- on Friday took a number of hostages there. Boumeddiene remains at large. 
 
 Like Cherif Kouachi, a man claiming to be Coulibaly called BFMTV on Friday. At the scene, witnesses heard Coulibaly demand freedom for the Kouachi brothers, according to police union spokesman Pascal Disand. 
 
 Photos: Hostage situation at Paris grocery Photos: Hostage situation at Paris grocery A police officer closes the bullet ridden door next to a body lying in a kosher grocery store in the Paris neighborhood of Porte de Vincennes on Friday, January 9. Amedy Coulibaly -- the man who authorities believe killed a policewoman Thursday south of Paris -- was killed when police stormed the store. A search is underway for suspected accomplice, a woman identified as Hayat Boumeddiene. 
 
 Hide Caption 1 of 18 Photos: Hostage situation at Paris grocery Forensics investigators gather outside the grocery store. French President Francois Hollande said four people were killed. Hide Caption 2 of 18 Photos: Hostage situation at Paris grocery French police escort hostages away from the grocery store. At least 10 hostages managed to escape, according to a Paris police union spokesman. Hide Caption 3 of 18 Photos: Hostage situation at Paris grocery Coulibaly was one of two people wanted in connection with the deadly shooting of a police officer south of Paris on Thursday, January 8. French authorities released photographs of Coulibaly, right, and Boumeddiene after the shooting. Hide Caption 4 of 18 Photos: Hostage situation at Paris grocery Police mobilize at the scene in Paris. One of the hostages told CNN affiliate BFMTV that the gunman started shooting "as soon as he got inside" and killed two customers. Hide Caption 5 of 18 Photos: Hostage situation at Paris grocery A police officer is seen at the scene of the standoff. Police union spokesman Pascal Disand said the hostage-taker, Amedy Coulibaly, demanded freedom for Cherif and Said Kouachi, the suspects in Wednesday's massacre at the Charlie Hebdo magazine office in Paris, who were simultaneously involved in a standoff wiith police northeast of Paris. Disand said the brothers and Coulibaly were part of the same jihadist groups. Hide Caption 6 of 18 Photos: Hostage situation at Paris grocery A security officer in Paris directs hostages to safety. Hide Caption 7 of 18 Photos: Hostage situation at Paris grocery Police forces launch an assault at the grocery store. Hide Caption 8 of 18 Photos: Hostage situation at Paris grocery Large explosions could be heard around 5:10 p.m. (11:10 a.m ET). Hide Caption 9 of 18 Photos: Hostage situation at Paris grocery Police take position by the grocery store. Hide Caption 10 of 18 Photos: Hostage situation at Paris grocery Police ride on a truck bed near the grocery store. Hide Caption 11 of 18 Photos: Hostage situation at Paris grocery Police forces gather at the scene of the standoff. Hide Caption 12 of 18 Photos: Hostage situation at Paris grocery People are led away by police from an area near the standoff. Hide Caption 13 of 18 Photos: Hostage situation at Paris grocery Vehicles are blocked on a road in Paris. Hide Caption 14 of 18 Photos: Hostage situation at Paris grocery Police arrive with guns at the scene of the grocery store standoff. Hide Caption 15 of 18 Photos: Hostage situation at Paris grocery French police on the move near the grocery store. Hide Caption 16 of 18 Photos: Hostage situation at Paris grocery A police officer gives instructions to local residents in Saint-Mande, which is near Porte de Vincennes. Hide Caption 17 of 18 Photos: Hostage situation at Paris grocery Police gather at the site of the standoff. Hide Caption 18 of 18 
 
 Law enforcement swarmed the area. Dozens of schools went on lockdown. 
 
 A resolution came a few minutes after the Dammartin-en-Goele climax, in the form of explosions and gunfire. Up to 20 heavily armed police officers moved into the store. They came out with a number of civilians. 
 
 Not everyone made it. Hollande said four people were killed. Israeli government sources told CNN that Hollande told Netanyahu that four hostages were killed and 15 were rescued. Molins said four hostages were killed by the gunman before police stormed the market. 
 
 Father: 'It's like a war' 
 
 In a speech Friday night, Hollande called the Porte de Vincennes deaths an "anti-Semitic" act. 
 
 He urged his countrymen not to respond with violence against Muslims, saying, "Those who committed these acts have nothing to do with the Muslim religion." 
 
 "Unity" he said, "is our best weapon." 
 
 Map: Standoffs near Paris, France 
 
 That kind of military language is apt when you're talking about two deadly attacks and violent standoffs in a few days. 
 
 It's something that a man, who asked to be called simply Teddy, understands. He was outside Henri Dunant elementary school in Dammartin-en-Goele on Friday, hoping to pick up his young son. 
 
 And, eventually, the students did leave the school -- accompanied by police officers who held their hands and, in some cases, lifted them onto an awaiting bus that would take them to safety. 
 
 "It's like a war," Teddy said. "I don't know how I will explain this to my 5-year-old son." 
 
 Parts of France on high alert 
 
 This "war" erupted two days ago, when a pair of heavily armed men -- hooded and dressed in black -- entered the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo, the satirical magazine known for its provocative, often profane, take on religion, politics and most anything else. 
 
 They burst into a meeting, called out individuals, and then executed them. The dead included editor and cartoonist Stephane Charbonnier and four other well-known cartoonists known by the pen names: Cabu, Wolinski, Honore and Tignous. 
 
 JUST WATCHED Paris attack's tragic timeline Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Paris attack's tragic timeline 02:31 
 
 Authorities followed a lead Thursday morning from a gas station attendant near Villers-Cotterets, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Dammartin-en-Goele, whom Cherif Kouachi, 32, and Said Kouachi, 34, reportedly threatened as they stole food and gas. Police think the brothers may have later fled on foot into nearby woods. 
 
 Ties to Islamist extremists 
 
 As the suspects moved, the French government -- including more than 80,000 police deployed across the country -- also didn't stand still. 
 
 Some of them tried to prevent more bloodshed, which might have something to do with nine people detained after the Charlie Hebdo attacks. Investigators also dug to learn about the attackers. 
 
 Both men had ties to Islamist extremists. 
 
 Said Kouachi, left, and Cherif Kouachi are suspects in the Paris attack. 
 
 Said, the elder of the Kouachi brothers, spent several months in Yemen in 2011, receiving weapons training and working with al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, according to U.S. officials. 
 
 His younger brother, Cherif, has a long history of jihad and anti-Semitism, according to documents obtained by CNN. In a 400-page court record, he is described as wanting to go to Iraq through Syria "to go and combat the Americans." 
 
 "I was ready to go and die in battle," he said in a deposition. "... I got this idea when I saw the injustices shown by television. ... I am speaking about the torture that the Americans have inflicted on the Iraqis." 
 
 Cherif was a close associate of Coulibaly, a Western intelligence source told CNN. 
 
 A man claiming to be Cherif told CNN affiliate BFMTV in a phone call before he was shot and killed Friday that he was sent to carry out the massacre by al Qaeda in Yemen and that the late Anwar al-Awlaki financed his trip. CNN cannot independently confirm the authenticity of the recording. 
 
 Al-Awlaki, an American-born Muslim scholar and cleric who acted as a spokesperson for al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, was killed in 2011 by a CIA drone strike. 
 
 Cherif and Coulibaly were involved in a 2010 attempt to free an Algerian incarcerated for a 1995 subway bombing. Coulibaly was arrested with 240 rounds of ammunition for a Kalashnikov rifle and a photo of Djamel Beghal, a French Algerian once known as al Qaeda's premier European recruiter. 
 
 The Western intelligence source said that Coulibaly lived with Boumeddiene, his alleged accomplice in the police shooting, and that the two traveled to Malaysia together. 
 
 Charlie Hebdo columnist: 'They didn't want us to be quiet' 
 
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 A unity rally will be held Sunday "celebrating the values behind" Charlie Hebdo, said British Prime Minister David Cameron, who will travel to Paris to attend. 
 
 And the magazine itself -- whose former offices were firebombed in 2011, on the day it was to publish an issue poking fun at Islamic law and after it published a cartoon of the Muslim Prophet Mohammed -- will go on as well, even without its leader and most talented staffers. It's set to publish thousands of copies of its latest edition next Wednesday. 
 
 Map: Charlie Hebdo HQ, Paris 
 
 Patrick Pelloux, a columnist for the magazine, told CNN that "I don't know if I'm afraid anymore, because I've seen fear. I was scared for my friends, and they are dead." 
 
 He and many others are defiant. 
 
 "I know that they didn't want us to be quiet," Pelloux said of the slain Charlie Hebdo staffers."They would be assassinated twice, if we remained silent."
– Just how on edge is France after the Charlie Hebdo attack? This might provide a clue: Police in Nice questioned an 8-year-old boy for a half-hour because he refused to take part in a moment of silence at his school and instead praised terrorists, reports AFP. “In the current context, the principal of the school decided to report to police what had happened,” explains a regional security official. French education ministry officials say that school administrators first brought in the boy's father, and summoned police only after the father became angry, reports the Wall Street Journal. The family's lawyer disputes that and calls the entire affair "insanity." The lawyer says the boy, identified only as Ahmed, acknowledged to police that he said, "I am with the terrorists." But when police asked him what "terrorism," meant, the boy said he didn't know. A group called the Collective Against Islamophobia in France released a statement after the incident criticizing “the collective hysteria that has engulfed France since early January," reports France24. No charges have been filed in the case, but that could change: A spokesperson for the education ministry says social services are investigating allegations the boy was abused at home, and police are investigating the father's complaint that the school's director slapped him during an argument. (A French comic is in hot water over his terror remarks.)