Paris's Charlie Hebdo-Prompted Alert Does Little to Defend City
- France has been on state of alert since January attacks
- Paris has 2.2 million inhabitants and 13,000 restaurants
Members of the GIPN and RAID, French police special forces, carry out searches as part of an investigation into a deadly attack the day before by armed gunmen on the Paris offices of French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo. century. Photographer: Francois Lo Presti/AFP/Getty Images
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The gunmen who mowed people down in cafes in central Paris and at a packed theater in the French capital on Friday were acting in a city on high alert since terrorists attacked satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and a Jewish supermarket in January.
That did nothing to stop them.