Biodun Iginla, BBC News

Biodun Iginla, BBC News

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Charlie Hebdo attack: Rush to buy new "survivors' issue"


by Natalie de Vallieres and Biodun Iginla, BBC Newsbeat Online

The BBC's Hugh Schofield reports from a kiosk in Paris as people queue to buy the latest issue
Long queues have formed at newsstands in France for the latest edition of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
Five million copies are being printed - a week after Islamist gunmen murdered eight journalists at the magazine and four other people in Paris.
The cover shows a cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad weeping while holding a sign saying "Je suis Charlie" ("I am Charlie").
It is believed earlier cartoons of the Prophet prompted the attack.
The slogan "Je suis Charlie" has been widely used following the shootings.
In a separate attack in Paris two days later, four Jewish men died after an Islamist gunmen took hostages at a kosher shop in the French capital. A police woman was shot dead in a third shooting believed to have been carried out by the same attacker.
A note that reads: "No more Charlie Hebdo" is posted after all copies of the satirical newspaper were sold out at a newsstand in Paris, 14 January 2015 All copies of the magazine were sold out by Wednesday morning at this Paris newsstand
Jean Paul Bierlein reads the new Charlie Hebdo outside a newsstand in Nice, southeastern France, 14 January 2015 Some kiosks said they had received dozens of reservation requests
A man waves a flag reading 'Je suis Charlie' during a unity rally in Paris. Photo: 11 January 2015 On Sunday, about 1.5 million people rallied in Paris in a show of solidarity with the victims
Referring to last week's shocking events, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said his country was at war with extremism and terrorism - but not with Muslims.
He was speaking on Tuesday after funeral ceremonies were held for seven of the victims in France and Israel.
France has deployed 10,000 troops at various sites across the country - including synagogues, mosques and airports - in response to the attacks.
New threats
Charlie Hebdo editor-in-chief Gerard Biard comforted Renald "Luz" Luzier, who drew the latest cover, at a news conference
Three million copies of the latest edition of Charlie Hebdo were originally printed for distribution. On Wednesday morning, following overwhelming demand, editors decided to increase the print run to five million. Normally, only 60,000 are printed each week.
Demand for what is being called the "survivors' issue" of the magazine is high, in part because the proceeds will go to the victims' families, correspondents say.
Kiosk owners told French media they had received large numbers of reservation requests, while at one shop in Paris all copies were reportedly sold out within five minutes.
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Hugh Schofield in Paris on the new edition:
There's the full-page cartoon of a weeping Muhammad on the front cover, but inside there are no more caricatures of the Prophet.
There are plenty - in the paper's characteristic scurrilous vein - of Muslim extremists. In one cartoon, two terrorists are seen ascending to heaven and asking: "Where are the 70 virgins?" In the background, the murdered staff at Charlie Hebdo are enjoying an orgy.
An editorial thanks the millions of people who have declared themselves as Charlie in the past few days - but it says it wants no more of the past insinuations that by provoking Muslims, it has somehow brought trouble on itself.
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The issue will be available in six languages - including English, Arabic and Turkish - some in print and some online.
Editor-in-chief Gerard Biard told reporters: "We are happy to have done it and happy to have been able to do it, to have achieved it. It was tough. The front page... was complicated to put together, because it had to express something new, it had to say something relating to the event that we had to deal with."
The front cover of the edition had been widely published in advance by French media.
A French policeman and soldiers on patrol in Roubaix, northern France. Photo: 13 January 2015 Security has been increased dramatically across France after the attacks
Outside France, the Washington Post, Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine, Corriere della Sera in Italy and the UK's Guardian are among publications to show the cartoon.
Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet has published a section of the magazine, including a small image of the cover in one of its columns. It had originally planned to publish the full edition, but scaled down its plans due to security concerns.
Very few outlets in the Middle East and North Africa have shown the image.
Charlie Hebdo's decision to publish another cartoon of the Prophet has already generated threats from militant Islamist websites and criticism from the Islamic world, the BBC's Chris Morris in Paris reports.
Meanwhile, controversial French comedian Dieudonne M'bala M'bala was arrested on Wednesday for "defending terrorism".
Police opened an investigation into the comic on Monday, after he wrote on a Facebook post "I feel like Charlie Coulibaly" - merging Charlie Hebdo with the name of supermarket gunman Amedy Coulibaly.
Suspect on the run The three days of violence in Paris began after brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi attacked the magazine's office. They shouted "We have avenged the Prophet Muhammad" after the shootings.
New mobile phone footage shows the Kouachi brothers opening fire on police
The brothers were later killed by French security services after a stand-off in a town north of Paris.
Separately, Coulibaly - whom investigators have linked to the brothers - killed the four men at the kosher supermarket on Friday, apparently before police stormed the building. Coulibaly is also believed to have shot dead the policewoman the day before.
His partner Hayat Boumeddiene is now thought to be in Syria. She has been identified as a suspect by French police, although she left France before the attacks.
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How the attacks unfolded (all times GMT)
Map of Paris showing the locations of three deadly attacks in January 2015
  • Wednesday 7 January 10:30 - Two masked gunmen enter Charlie Hebdo offices, killing 11 people, including the magazine's editor. Shortly after the attack, the gunmen kill a police officer nearby.
  • 11:00 - Police lose track of the men after they abandon their getaway car and hijack another vehicle. They are later identified as brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi.
  • Thursday 8 January 08:45 - A lone gunman shoots dead a policewoman and injures a man in the south of Paris. Gunman later identified as Amedy Coulibaly.
  • 10:30 - The Kouachi brothers rob a service station near Villers-Cotterets, in the Aisne region, but disappear again.
  • Friday 9 January 08:30 - Police exchange gunfire with the Kouachi brothers during a car chase on the National 2 highway northeast of Paris.
  • 10:00 - Police surround the brothers at an industrial building in at Dammartin-en-Goele, 35km (22 miles) from Paris.
  • 12:15 - Coulibaly reappears and takes several people hostage at a kosher supermarket in eastern Paris. Heavily-armed police arrive and surround the store.
  • 16:00 - Kouachi brothers come out of the warehouse, firing at police. They are both shot dead.
  • 16:15 - Police storm the kosher supermarket in Paris, killing Coulibaly and rescuing 15 hostages. The bodies of four hostages are recovered.
Three days of terror
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