Charlie Hebdo's New Issue Sells Out Around Paris

The distributor says it is increasing print run to five million copies.

ByABC News
January 14, 2015, 4:33 AM

— -- About 700,000 copies of Charlie Hebdo's new issue were sold this morning across France, as people waited for hours to nab a copy of the satirical newspaper one week after a deadly attack at the publication's offices.

Long lines formed at newsstands and kiosks across Paris, and some kiosks limited the issue of Charlie Hebdo -- which features the prophet Muhammad on its cover -- to one per person.

The head of France's press distribution union confirmed that the country's 27,000 newsstands had sold out of the publication, with another 500,000 available for purchase Thursday.

To meet the added demand, distributor MLP said it was increasing the print run to five million copies. Before the attack, issues would generally sell 30,000 copies.

PHOTO: Jean Paul Bierlein reads the latest issue of Charlie Hebdo outside a newsstand in Nice, southeastern France, Jan. 14, 2015.
Jean Paul Bierlein reads the latest issue of Charlie Hebdo outside a newsstand in Nice, southeastern France, Jan. 14, 2015.

This week’s cover showed Muhammad with a tear rolling down his face, holding a banner that read, “Je Suis Charlie,” or, “I am Charlie,” a worldwide rallying cry following the attacks. Above the caricature, a title read “Everything has been forgiven.”

The magazine has drawn the ire of Muslim groups in some countries that oppose depictions of Islam's founder.

PHOTO: In this photo made with a fish-eye lens, people wait to buy the latest issue of Charlie Hebdo newspaper at a newsstand in Rennes, western France, Jan. 14, 2015.
In this photo made with a fish-eye lens, people wait to buy the latest issue of Charlie Hebdo newspaper at a newsstand in Rennes, western France, Jan. 14, 2015.

Twelve people died in the Jan. 7 ambush at Charlie Hebdo’s office, the start of a three-day wave of violence in France that concluded with separate standoffs Friday in which the gunmen were eventually killed.

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