dominick kane reports. >> for more than 20 years charlie hebdo has shocked and amused people every weekcausing controversy with satirical pieces on religious and politics and public affairs. it uses cartoons to put across it's mention of freedom of speech. often with unplattering caricatures of public officials. but in recent years it's been criticized. in 2011 it renamed itself for one edition for the cartoon relating to the prophet muhammad. it's offices were fire bombed after the publication. at the time the he he he editorial team expressed their desire to carry on. >> it's been 20 years that we have quote/unquote been provocative on many different subjects. it just so happens every time we deal with radical islam we have a problem and we get indignant or violent reactions. >> it's now been confirmed that stephane charbonnier was among one those who died in the attack. >> there can be no doubt that this was a terrorist attack on a newspaper that had been threatened several times. >> in one of his last cartoons. stephane charbonnie spoke out but now he and many of his colleagues are

dominick kane, al jazeera. >> joining me now from london is jodie ginsberg, thank you for speaking tous. how would you describe the nature of today's attack? >> this attack is absolutely appalling. it's chilling. our hearts and thoughts go out to the families and the staff of charlie hebdo. it clearly is an attack on free press, an attempt to stifle and shut down free expression. >> where do we go from here? do you expect to see with a sense of defiance within the public in paris right now, do you expect to see perhaps morallies, more gatherings around the country and perhaps around the world in solidarity of the victims of today's attack? >> i expect we'll see more demonstrations. they're gathering in london at at trafalgar square. we're already seeing an outpouring on social media. people tweeting the cartoons, of charlie hebdo. but in addition we need to make sure that we cannot let those individuals who want to use violence to keep free press and free expression from flourishing and succeed. we can't let that happen. >> let's go to washington, d.c. patty, a little bit earlier on w