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Funeral for French policeman Ahmed Merabet held in Paris

Ahmed Merabet, the French policeman killed by the Kouachi brothers in 
  Wednesday's attack on the Charlie Hebdo magazine, has been honoured at a 
  funeral service in Paris 














Policeman Ahmed Merabet 









 






							By 
											Harriet Alexander

3:31PM GMT 11 Jan 2015

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The funeral for a French
policeman shot dead outside the offices of Charlie Hebdo has been held 
  in Paris, hours before a massive march in memory of the victims. 


Ahmed Merabet, 42, was the first officer on the scene of Wednesday's attack, 
  carried out by al Qaeda brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi. The brothers shot 
  Mr Merabet as he approached, and then fired at him point blank as he lay on 
  the pavement. 


He was on foot, and came nose-to-nose with the terrorists," said Rocco 
  Contento, a colleague who was a union representative at the central police 
  station for Paris's 11th arrondissement, where Mr Merabet was based. 


"He pulled out his weapon. It was his job, it was his duty." 


He described Mr Merabet as a quiet, conscientious officer who was always 
  smiling and was widely liked. 

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On Sunday morning thousands of people gathered in the suburb of Livry-Gargan 
  to the north east of Paris, standing in front of the town hall. They held 
  aloft a series of signs saying "Je suis Ahmed". Heads were bowed in quiet 
  reflection.


Mr Merabet grew up in the suburb, attending the Andre-Boulloche lycee, as one 
  of five children of Algerian immigrant parents. He ran a cleaning company 
  before joining the police force eight years ago, and worked hard for a 
  promotion. 


"Through his determination, he had just got his judicial police officer 
  (detective) diploma, and was shortly due to leave fieldwork," said his 
  brother Malek, at a press conference in Livry-Gargan on the eve of the 
  funeral. "His colleagues described him as a man of action who was 
  passionate about his job." 


And Mr Merabet's brother used the press conference to call for calm, and speak 
  out against Islamaphobia and anti-Semitism. 


"Islam is a religion of peace, love and sharing. It's not about 
  terrorism, it's not about madness – we have nothing to do with that," 
  he said. 


"My brother was a Muslim and he was killed by people pretending to be 
  Muslims. They are terrorists – that's it." 


He added: "I speak now to all the racists, Islamaphobes and anti-Semites 
  who confuse extremists and Muslims. Madness has neither colour nor religion. 


"I want to make another point; don't tar everyone with the same brush, 
  don't burn mosques – or synagogues. You are attacking people. It won't bring 
  our dead back and it won't appease the families." 


At the time of his murder, Mr Merabet was making plans to move in with his 
  partner, Morgane Ahmad. 


"What the family and I want is for everyone to be united, we want 
  everyone to be able to demonstrate in peace," she said. 


"We want to show respect for all the victims and that demonstrations 
  should be peaceful." 


But she also criticised the media for showing video footage of Mr Merabet's 
  death. She was in a restaurant at the time of the shooting, and heard that a 
  policeman could be injured. Worried, she rang Mr Merabet's phone. Then she 
  saw the footage of him being murdered. 


"How dare you take that video and broadcast it?" Mr Merabet's 
  brother Malek asked journalists on Saturday. "I heard his voice. I 
  recognised him. I saw him get slaughtered and I hear him get slaughtered 
  every day." 


On Sunday the man who took the footage, filming on his mobile phone from 
  across the road of the Charlie Hebdo offices, said he deeply regretted 
  posting it. 


Jordi Mir, an engineer, told The Associated Press he posted the video out of 
  fear and a "stupid reflex" fostered by years on social media. 


"I was completely panicked," he said "I had to speak to 
  someone. I was alone in my flat. I put the video on Facebook. That was my 
  error." 


Mr Mir said he left the video on Facebook for as little as 15 minutes before 
  thinking the better of it and taking it down. But the footage had already 
  been shared across the site and someone uploaded it to YouTube. Less than an 
  hour after Mr Mir removed the video from his page, he was startled to find 
  it playing across his television screen. 


Mr Mir didn't even know what he was filming at first. Drawn to his window when 
  the sound of gunshots interrupted his emailing, he initially thought there 
  was a bank robbery in progress. When he spotted the rifle-wielding men in 
  black walking down the street, he assumed they were police going to help a 
  stricken comrade. 


"And — horror — they're not," said Mr Mir. 


He apologised for causing distress to Mr Merabet's family. 


"On Facebook, there's no confidentiality," he said. "It's a 
  lesson for me." 




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