The first edition of Charlie Hebdo published after the deadly attacks by Islamist gunmen sold out within minutes at newspaper kiosks around France yesterday, with people queuing up to buy copies to support the satirical weekly.
“I’ve never bought it before, it’s not quite my political stripes, but it’s important for me to buy it today and support freedom of expression,” said David Sullo, standing at the end of a queue of two dozen people at a kiosk in central Paris.
A print run of up to three million copies has been set for what has been called “the survivors’ edition”, dwarfing the usual 60000 run. But still, many outlets were selling out fast.
“It’s important for me to buy it and show solidarity by doing so, and not only by marching,” said 42-year-old Laurent in the same queue, adding he had no guarantee he would get a copy because he had not reserved one the day before.
A few blocks away, at Jules Joffrin metro station in northern Paris, one newspaper seller said people were already waiting outside her shop when she opened at 6am. “I had 10 copies – they were sold immediately,” she said.
The newsagent at Gare du Nord rail station said the shop opened at 5.15am instead of the usual 6am, and its 200 copies sold out in less than 15 minutes.
Seventeen people died in Paris in three days of violence that began with the attack by two Islamist gunmen on the offices of Charlie Hebdo on January 7 – in which 12 people were killed – and ended with a siege at a kosher supermarket two days later.
At least 3.7 million people marched through Paris on Sunday to honour the memory of the journalists, policemen and supermarket customers who died.
The front page of Charlie Hebdo’s January 14 edition shows a cartoon of a tearful Mohammed with a sign “Je suis Charlie” (I am Charlie) below the headline: “Tout est pardonné” (All is forgiven).
“I wrote ‘all is forgiven’ and I cried,” Renald “Luz” Luzier, who created the image, told a news conference on Tuesday at the weekly’s temporary office at left-wing daily Liberation.
Inside the edition, the weekly’s usual irreverent humour was on display. One cartoon shows jihadists saying: “We shouldn’t touch Charlie people ... otherwise they will look like martyrs and, once in heaven, these bastards will steal our virgins.”
“What makes us laugh most is that the bells of Notre-Dame rang in our honour,” the newspaper, which emerged from the 1968 freedom movement and has long mocked all religions and pillars of the establishment, said in an editorial.
All proceeds from the sale of this week’s edition will go directly to Charlie Hebdo, in a windfall for a publication that had been struggling financially, after distributors decided to waive their cut. The cover price was à3 (R41). A call for donations has also been aired on national media.
Digital versions of the publication will be posted in English, Spanish and Arabic, while print editions in Italian and Turkish will also appear.
At a news briefing on Tuesday, US State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said: “We absolutely support the right of Charlie Hebdo to publish things like this. Again, that’s what happens in a democracy. Period.”
However Egypt’s Grand Mufti warned the newspaper against publishing a new Mohammed caricature, saying it was a racist act that would incite hatred and upset Muslims around the world.
The Islamic State group’s radio yesterday described the new cartoon of the prophet Mohammed as an “extremely stupid” act.
“Charlie Hebdo has again published cartoons insulting the prophet and this is an extremely stupid act,” said a statement read on the station Al-Bayan radio, which the jihadist group broadcasts in areas under its control in Syria and Iraq.
Iran also condemned the publication of the new cartoon, saying it was “insulting” and “provocative”. The magazine cover “provokes the emotions of Muslims and hurts their feelings around the world, and could fan the flame of a vicious circle of extremism”, said foreign ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham.
Iran denounced the massacre the day it occurred and Afkham said yesterday such attacks had “no closeness or similarity to Islam” and were “in complete contradiction to Islamic teaching”.
However she indicated that the new cartoon was “abuse of freedom of speech, which is common in the West these days. Such ... abuse should be prevented. Respecting the beliefs and values of followers of divine religions is an acceptable principle”, she said.
French rush to buy paper after attack
“I’ve never bought it before, it’s not quite my political stripes, but it’s important for me to buy it today and support freedom of expression,” said David Sullo, standing at the end of a queue of two dozen people at a kiosk in central Paris.
A print run of up to three million copies has been set for what has been called “the survivors’ edition”, dwarfing the usual 60000 run. But still, many outlets were selling out fast.
“It’s important for me to buy it and show solidarity by doing so, and not only by marching,” said 42-year-old Laurent in the same queue, adding he had no guarantee he would get a copy because he had not reserved one the day before.
A few blocks away, at Jules Joffrin metro station in northern Paris, one newspaper seller said people were already waiting outside her shop when she opened at 6am. “I had 10 copies – they were sold immediately,” she said.
The newsagent at Gare du Nord rail station said the shop opened at 5.15am instead of the usual 6am, and its 200 copies sold out in less than 15 minutes.
Seventeen people died in Paris in three days of violence that began with the attack by two Islamist gunmen on the offices of Charlie Hebdo on January 7 – in which 12 people were killed – and ended with a siege at a kosher supermarket two days later.
At least 3.7 million people marched through Paris on Sunday to honour the memory of the journalists, policemen and supermarket customers who died.
The front page of Charlie Hebdo’s January 14 edition shows a cartoon of a tearful Mohammed with a sign “Je suis Charlie” (I am Charlie) below the headline: “Tout est pardonné” (All is forgiven).
“I wrote ‘all is forgiven’ and I cried,” Renald “Luz” Luzier, who created the image, told a news conference on Tuesday at the weekly’s temporary office at left-wing daily Liberation.
Inside the edition, the weekly’s usual irreverent humour was on display. One cartoon shows jihadists saying: “We shouldn’t touch Charlie people ... otherwise they will look like martyrs and, once in heaven, these bastards will steal our virgins.”
“What makes us laugh most is that the bells of Notre-Dame rang in our honour,” the newspaper, which emerged from the 1968 freedom movement and has long mocked all religions and pillars of the establishment, said in an editorial.
All proceeds from the sale of this week’s edition will go directly to Charlie Hebdo, in a windfall for a publication that had been struggling financially, after distributors decided to waive their cut. The cover price was à3 (R41). A call for donations has also been aired on national media.
Digital versions of the publication will be posted in English, Spanish and Arabic, while print editions in Italian and Turkish will also appear.
At a news briefing on Tuesday, US State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said: “We absolutely support the right of Charlie Hebdo to publish things like this. Again, that’s what happens in a democracy. Period.”
However Egypt’s Grand Mufti warned the newspaper against publishing a new Mohammed caricature, saying it was a racist act that would incite hatred and upset Muslims around the world.
The Islamic State group’s radio yesterday described the new cartoon of the prophet Mohammed as an “extremely stupid” act.
“Charlie Hebdo has again published cartoons insulting the prophet and this is an extremely stupid act,” said a statement read on the station Al-Bayan radio, which the jihadist group broadcasts in areas under its control in Syria and Iraq.
Iran also condemned the publication of the new cartoon, saying it was “insulting” and “provocative”. The magazine cover “provokes the emotions of Muslims and hurts their feelings around the world, and could fan the flame of a vicious circle of extremism”, said foreign ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham.
Iran denounced the massacre the day it occurred and Afkham said yesterday such attacks had “no closeness or similarity to Islam” and were “in complete contradiction to Islamic teaching”.
However she indicated that the new cartoon was “abuse of freedom of speech, which is common in the West these days. Such ... abuse should be prevented. Respecting the beliefs and values of followers of divine religions is an acceptable principle”, she said.
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