banksy charlie hebdo
The image widely believed to be Banksy was originally created by French artist Lucille Clerc Twitter/Lucille Clerc

An illustration being widely shared on social media believed to have been created by Banksy in response to the Charlie Hebdo shooting does not belong to world famous street artist.

The illustration, one of a number of images which pay respect to the 12 people who were killed in Paris, including four of the satirical magazine's cartoonists, has been shared thousands of times on sites such as Twitter and Facebook.

In many cases, the image is attributed to Banksy after appearing on a fan-run Instagram account which has more than one million followers.

Several news organisations also attributed the image to Banksy despite no verification the artist created it.

The secretive artist has stated in the past how he does not run any Facebook, Twitter or Instgram account. The image which is being widely shared in his name appears to belong to French artist Lucille Clerc.

The image is one of a number of illustrations which have been shared around the world by political cartoonists paying their respect to the 12 people who died, including the killed Charlie Hebdo cartoonists Jean Cabu, Stephane Charbonnier, Georges Wolinski and Bernard "Tignous" Verlhac.

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