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Print of Charlie Hebdo's first edition after attack expected to reach 5 mln: media

Xinhua, January 14, 2015 Adjust font size:

French people on Wednesday rushed to buy Charlie Hebdo's first edition after gunmen stormed the magazine's offices and killed 12 victims one week ago in an attack believed to be revenge for publishing cartoons of Prophet Muhammad in the past.

A sudden and crazy interest in the paper was witnessed across the country. Long queues formed in the early morning in Paris and in France's main cities to buy the "survivors' edition," according to local reports.

The waiting time exceeded half an hour with no guarantee to get a copy. Many kiosks and shops had already sold out shortly after opening at 6 a.m. local time (0500 GMT).

"Charlie Hebdo out of stocks everywhere! So first, thank you and be reassured, we will re-print and re-distribute," tweeted Patrick Pelloux, a columnist at the weekly magazine.

With a normal average of 60,000 copies, the paper's print run for this edition was expected to be 5 million. For the first time, Charlie Hebdo is being printed in Spanish, Arabic, Italian, Turkish and English in a show of support for the paper after last week's attack.

On Jan. 7, two gunmen stormed Charlie Hebdo headquarters in Paris and killed 12 people, among them the newspaper's four main cartoonists.

In the first edition since the shooting, Charlie Hebdo published a front page showing a cartoon of Prophet Muhammad holding a paper written on it "I'm Charlie" below the headline "All is forgiven."

Hailed by westerners as a symbol of freedom of expression, Muslim leaders denounced the publication for printing new cartoons of Prophet Muhammad, adding that such provocation could further fuel hatred. Endit