By now you know what’s gone down in Paris over the last 24 hours. If you don’t, click here for a quick rundown.

This isn’t the first time Charlie Hebdo has made world headlines. The weekly publication have long been known for their fearless, irreverent, non-conformist and anti-religious take on society, which has courted controversy along with creating a devoted readership.

Their most notorious cover is probably their 2011 depiction of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad saying ‘100 lashes if you don’t die of laughter’. The cover resulted in Charlie Hebdo’s website being hacked and an arson attempt on the building itself.

The final straw seems to have been a tweet sent just an hour before the gunmen, suspected to be Islamist extremists, stormed the offices in central Paris and took their idea of justice into their own hands. RT describes the ridiculing nature of the tweet:

While holding up a single finger in this manner, militants are usually expressing their dedication to this ideology – some underlying principles of which demand the destruction of the West. A caption on the image reads: “al-Baghdadi also wishes…especially health”.

In a video which captured the yet unidentified gunmen leaving the building after the attack on Charlie Hebdo, one of them – carrying an AK47 assault rifle – is seen raising his index finger in the same manner.

What remains obvious for all to see is that these people had guts, refusing to compromise their ideals in the face of what was a prolonged onslaught of pressure from various fronts. For that, they deserve a massive amount of respect, whether or not you agree with their viewpoints on certain issues.

You can find a list of their 16 boldest and most controversial covers, and the backlash which followed them, on BusinessInsider.