French right groups commemorated Charlie anniversary at the Les Folies Bergeres theatre in Paris on January 6. (Photo: Christophe Archambault/ AFP)

January 7 is the third anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo attack. Some French groups hosted events to remind people of “Je suis Charlie” or the I am Charlie campaign.

Groups all over the country hosted memorial events celebrating freedom of expression and commemorating the victims on Saturday.

The attackers recorded by monitor on January 7, 2015. (Photo: AFP)

In 2015, the Paris offices of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo were stormed by two masked gunmen, killing 12 for a cartoon featuring the Prophet Muhammad. Two days later on January 9, the attackers killed at least two people in East Paris.

In response, more than 4 million people marched across the country in support of the victims under the slogan “Je suis Charlie.”

The sales of the magazine returned to their pre-2015 levels, according to an interview with a kiosk keeper by France 24. The magazine sold out 1 million copies right after the attack while average sales before were 60,000.

The latest edition of Charlie Hebdo.

“The Islamic State calendar?”

“We’ve already given”, referring to the French tradition of selling New Year’s calendars door to door. (Photo: AFP)

Graffiti of the smiling faces of murdered Charlie Hebdo cartoonists Charb, Cabu, Wolinski and Tignous were defaced by Hitler moustaches. The moustaches were removed just in time for the anniversary of the attack.

Sixty-one percent of French still identify with "Je suis Charlie," 10 percent less than in 2015, a French Institute of Public Opinion poll found. For some, that 10 percent is significant.

Some people in the neighborhood of former Charlie Hebdo’s Paris office told French media that freedom of expression also implies the right to be, or not to be, Charlie.

"Terrorism is now the main source of concern for the French," the National Observatory of Delinquency said.

One out of three people see terrorism and attacks as the most worrying problem for today's French society, which was "almost non-existent before the attacks of January 7 and 9, 2015," the article said.

With military operations in Syria, Iraq and the Sahel region, France has become a major target of terrorist attacks.

The Charlie Hebdo attack seemed to signal the start of a series of terror attacks all over the country.

As atrocities have mounted in France, “Je suis Charlie” today has evolved into a more complex feeling among French, meaning more than that single attack, more than the fight against terrorism and more than a defense of free speech.