French president Francois Hollande (L) pays tribute to the police officers killed in the recent Islamist attacks, on January 13, 2015 during a ceremony to posthumsly decorate the three Police officers with the Legion d'honneur at the Invalides Hotel in Paris.PATRICK KOVARIK/AFP / Getty Images
France is paying homage to three police officers killed in three days of bloodshed and terror.
At Tuesday's ceremony, French President Francois Hollande went first to the family of Ahmed Merabet, the French Muslim policeman killed in the attack on the offices of Charlie Hebdo. The satirical newspaper lampooned religions and had been threatened repeatedly for its caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.
The cover of Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday will depict Muhammad, weeping and holding a sign with the words "I am Charlie."
Seventeen people were killed in the attacks, along with the three gunmen. The attacks decimated the Charlie Hebdo staff; the other dead included four hostages killed in a kosher supermarket and the three police officers.