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 It came as Al Qaeda in Yemen claimed responsibility for the
attack, saying it ordered the killings because it deemed the weekly
had insulted the Prophet Mohammad. A total five million copies of
so-called "the survivors' edition" are to be printed, dwarfing the
normal 60,000 print run.
"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.
"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 streets away, by Jules Joffrin metro station in northern
Paris, one newspaper seller said people were already waiting outside
her shop when she opened at 6:00 am (0500 GMT). "I had 10 copies -
they were sold immediately," she said.
Two Islamist gunmen killed 12 people in an attack on the offices of
Charlie Hebdo on Jan. 7. A third gunman later killed a policewoman
and seized a kosher supermarket, killing four civilians. All three
attackers were killed in police raids.
In a video posted on YouTube, Al Qaeda in Yemen said its leadership
had ordered last Wednesday's attack.
"As for the blessed Battle of Paris, we, the Organisation of al
Qaeda al Jihad in the Arabian Peninsula, claim responsibility for
this operation as vengeance for the Messenger of God," said Nasser
bin Ali al-Ansi, a leader of the Yemeni branch of al Qaeda (AQAP) in
the recording.
Ansi, the main ideologue for AQAP, said without elaborating that the
strike was carried out in "implementation" of the order of overall
al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri, who has called for strikes by
Muslims in the West using any means they can find.
It was not immediately possible to verify the authenticity of the
recording, which carried the logo of the al Qaeda's media group
al-Malahem.
The front page of Charlie Hebdo's Jan. 14 edition shows a cartoon of
a tearful Mohammad with a sign reading "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.
"This is our front page ... it's not the one the terrorists wanted
us to draw," he said. "I'm not worried at all ... I trust people's
intelligence, the intelligence of humor."
At least 3.7 million people marched through France on Sunday to
honor the memory of the victims.
MARTYRS
Inside the edition, the weekly's usual irreverent humor 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."
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"What makes us laugh most is that the bells of Notre-Dame rang in
our honor," the newspaper, which emerged from the 1968
counter-culture movement and has long mocked all religions and
pillars of the establishment, wrote 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 three euros ($4). A call for donations has
also been aired on national media.
In Charenton on the eastern edge of Paris, queues formed in the
early morning darkness at the normally quiet newspaper stand near
the metro, until people got closer to a notice by the door saying
"Charlie Hebdo: none left".
Digital versions will be posted in English, Spanish and Arabic, with
print editions in Italian and Turkish.
While many French people enthusiastically supported the weekly's
decision to put another cartoon of Mohammad on its first cover after
the attacks, there were some who objected or expressed concern that
it would provoke more tension.
Dieudonne M'bala M'bala - a French comedian who has been convicted
in the past for anti-Semitic comments - was detained for questioning
on Wednesday for writing on his Facebook account "Je suis Charlie
Coulibaly", adding the surname of one of the gunmen to the
ubiquitous "I am Charlie" vigil slogan.
Bordeaux mosque rector Tareq Oubrou urged French Muslims not to
overreact.
"I don't think the prophet of Islam needs stupid or excited
reactions," he told BFM-TV. "Freedom has its down sides and we must
live with them."
Egypt's Grand Mufti on Tuesday warned the newspaper against
publishing a new Mohammad caricature, saying it was a racist act
that would incite hatred and upset Muslims around the world.
($1 = 0.8473 euros)
(Additional reporting by Brian Love and Valerie Parent in Paris,
Sami Aboudi in Dubai; Writing by Ingrid Melander; Editing by Peter
Graff)
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