This is how cartoonists are showing their solidarity with Charlie Hebdo victims

Speaking to ABC news in 2012, Stephane Charbonnier, the director of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, said, “We can’t live in a country without freedom of speech. I prefer to die than live like a rat.”

Charbonnier — one of the 12 people killed in an attack on the magazine's offices in Paris on Wednesday — made his fierce statements not long after a firebomb attack on the publication in 2012 destroyed their offices.

Wednesday's attack, however, was a bloody scene that has sent shockwaves worldwide. Three masked gunmen stormed the office in the middle of the day and opened fire. French President Francois Hollande condemned the attack as one of "exceptional barbarity." 

Known for its controversial, no-holds-barred satire, the anti-religious, left-wing Charlie Hebdo has been the target of repeated extremist threats and violence since 2006, when it published caricatures depicting the Muslim Prophet Muhammad.

People from around the world are showing solidarity with the victims by flooding social media with messages of support.

This is from London's Trafalgar Square:

Among those killed were four of the magazine's most well-known cartoonists, and in support of their colleagues, cartoonists and artists used their pens to show their support for the victims and for freedom of expression.

Here are a few of the powerful messages cartoonists have sent today: