The two situations are apparently related to each other as well as Wednesday’s killing of 12 people at the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.  The 12 victims included a Muslim police officer who was murdered at point-blank range in the street.  (Nice one, guys)

The latest unfolded near Porte de Vincennes in eastern Paris, where the city prosecutor’s office reported a shooting and hostage situation hours ago. Police anti-terror units raced to the scene, while ambulances blared as they moved away from it.

At least one man — suspected to be Amedy Coulibaly, 32, one of two people wanted in Thursday’s deadly shooting of a policewoman south of Paris — is thought to be holding six people in the kosher store, police union spokesman Romain Fabiano told CNN affiliate BFMTV. Authorities haven’t said how many are being held, or if anyone has been killed

Meanwhile, law enforcement officers hours earlier surrounded a building about 40 kilometers (25 miles) northeast in the town Dammartin-en-Goele.

UPDATE: 1/9/15 at 11:45 am EST – In what appears to be a coordinated effort, it seems that both situations have been neutralized.  The Charlie Hebdo suspects have been killed in a police raid on their compound in Dammartin-en-Goele, and unnamed French officials have also reportedly confirmed that Parisian brothers Chérif and Saïd Kouachi were killed when armed officers stormed the building.  AFP and others are reporting that, at the kosher supermarket in the east of Paris, several hostages have been released following a police operation. 

UPDATE (12:10 pm EST) – Amedy Coulibaly, one of the two people holding hostages at the kosher supermarket was also killed in the simultaneous raids.  His accomplice, a female named Hayat Boumeddienne, 26, reportedly was able to escape and is at large.  Reuters is reporting that “at least” four hostages were killed by the terrorists.

UPDATE (5:00 pm EST) – Graphic video of kosher deli raid is below the fold….

The Hebdo attack was religiously motivated.  During the attack, the gunmen said, “Allahu akbar” — which translates to “God is great” — and that they were avenging the Prophet Mohammed, the prosecutor told reporters.

Charlie Hebdo has a controversial history of depicting Mohammed, often in an unfavorable light, which has angered many Muslims around the world.

Earlier cartoons depicting Mohammed spurred protests and the burning of the magazine’s office three years ago.

Its last tweet before Wednesday’s attack featured a cartoon of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi offering festive greetings with the words, “And, above all, health!”

In response to the Hebdo attacks, a lot of people have been holding signs and tweeting, “Je suis Charlie” (or “I am Charlie”) to show their unity with the satirical magazine.  But I, like others, am NOT Charlie.

I’m not Charlie for several reasons: Charlie Hebdo for many people of color in France, particularly in Paris, that don’t benefit from mixed or proximity-to-White French- privilege is extremely racist. It’s a particular brand of French racism and xenophobia sheltered under the grey tent of “satire”. It’s belittingly. It’s demeaning. And it’s a larger, published example of the explicit forms of aggression that many people of color in Paris live with, daily.

Now, I agree with Voltaire: “I do not agree with what you are saying, but I will defend with my life your right to say it.”  Somehow, this has come to mean — in this particular instance — I have to agree with what you say, in order to defend it.  And the fact is, I don’t.  So shame on places like The Daily Caller, for criticizing media outlets that refuse to publish offensive and racist cartoons from Charlie Hebdo.  It has nothing to do with cowardice, Daily Caller — it has to do with respect.  (I put a Charlie Hebdo cover here not to praise Charlie Hebdo, but to show just how offensive the publication was).

Of course, this does not excuse in any way the horrific massacre at Charlie Hebdo’s offices.  Nothing mitigates that monstrosity. There will be time to analyze why the killers did it, time to parse their backgrounds, their ideologies, their beliefs, time for sociologists and psychologists to add to understanding. There will be explanations, and the explanations will be important, but explanations aren’t the same as excuses. Words don’t kill, they must not be met by killing, and they will not make the killers’ culpability go away.

To abhor what was done to the victims, though, is not the same as to become them.  And I am not Charlie Hebdo.

Exclusif France 2 : les images du face-à-face… by francetvinfo