Charlie Hebdo is to publish a caricature of the Prophet Mohammed holding a sign saying “Je suis Charlie” (I am Charlie) on the front page of its first edition to be published since extremists attacked the satirical newspaper’s office in Paris for printing cartoons of the Islamic figure.
With demand surging for the edition — to be published today — the French weekly planned to print up to 3 million copies, dwarfing its usual run of 60,000.
The French government has deployed thousands of extra police and soldiers to provide security after 17 people were killed in three days of violence that began when two armed extremists burst into Charlie Hebdo’s offices, opening fire in revenge for the paper’s publication of satirical images of Mohammed in the past.
Photo: AFP
The paper said the front page of its Jan. 14 edition would display a tearful Mohammed holding the sign below the headline: “Tout est pardonne” (All is forgiven).”
The new edition of Charlie Hebdo, known for satirizing Islam and other religions, is to include other cartoons featuring the prophet and making fun of politicians and other religions, its lawyer said.
“We will not back down; otherwise none of this has any meaning,” Richard Malka told French radio. “If you hold the banner: ‘I am Charlie,’ that means you have the right to blaspheme, you have the right to criticize my religion.”
Photo: AFP
One newspaper vendor in central Paris said he had already received 200 advance orders for today’s edition and was stopping there, as he could no longer cope.
There was no government reaction to the weekly’s decision.
French President Francois Hollande led a Paris ceremony to pay last respects to the three police officers, including a Muslim, who were killed in last week’s violence. A separate funeral was held in Jerusalem for four Jewish victims of a later hostage-taking in a kosher deli in Paris.
Hollande said the police officer posted at Charlie Hebdo’s offices died defending a freedom of expression based on “an insolence, an impertinence which expresses an independence.”
In the wake of the violence, French Minister of Defense Jean-Yves Le Drian said 10,000 troops were being deployed at sensitive sites, including synagogues, mosques and airports.
Hollande’s government has avoided referring to the Islamic Maghreb and African roots of the killers. It has also sought to discredit their claim to be acting in the name of Islam, calling them “fanatics.”
However, France’s Islamic Council called on the government to step up protection of mosques, saying that at least 50 anti-Islamic acts had been reported since the attack.
Abdallah Zekri, head of the National Observatory against Islamophobia, said Muslim sites such as Paris’ main mosque were not getting the same level of security as Jewish synagogues and schools.
“There are Web sites out there calling for the murder of Muslim leaders and the torching of Muslim religious sites,” he told France Info. “Let’s stop the double standards.”
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