Charlie Hebdo released the cover of its latest magazine a provocative special edition featuring a gun-toting God to mark the one year anniversary of the attack on their office which left 12 of its member dead.
France on Wednesday will mark one year since the jihadist attack on the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo by holding official ceremonies.
In what has been a bloody year for France, the January 7 attacks at the Charlie Hebdo offices left 12 dead. The year ended with the unprecedented mass shootings and bombing by Islamic State in Paris which claimed the lives of 130 people in November.
French President Francois Hollande will address a gathering of anti-terror security forces at Paris’s police headquarters.
The reforms aim to introduce measures including more flexible rules of engagement for armed police and stronger stop-and-search powers.
Charlie Hebdo has continued to raise ire, refusing self-censorship in the wake of the attacks, working from ultra-secure offices in a top-secret location.
On Wednesday it published a typically provocative special edition featuring a gun-toting God, sparking protests from the Vatican.
The cover of the anniversary edition features a bloodstained, bearded God-figure in sandals with a Kalashnikov slung over his shoulder under the headline: “One year on: the killer is still at large.”
The controversial cover is typical of the fiercely secular publication whose drawings of the Prophet Mohammed drew the fury of Muslims around the world and inspired the bloody attack on its offices.
Jihadist brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi gunned down eight Charlie staff as well as several others in and around the building in the assault, which began three days of terror in Paris.
The attack, claimed by Al-Qaeda’s branch in the Arabian Peninsula, was not the first on the publication, which was firebombed in 2011.
Charlie Hebdo has earlier issued a statement stating to release one million copies of a special issue on January 6, the eve of the attack to mark the first anniversary.
Financial director of the satirical publication Eric Portheault revealed that the edition, which will have 32 pages, instead of 16, will be sold at the usual price of 3 euros ($3.27).
In terms of content, Portheault explained that the issue will feature selected drawings from the cartoonists who were killed in the attack on January 7, 2015, as well as by current staff, together with messages of support.
A part of this special edition will go overseas, where the magazine has already received large orders.
Charlie Hebdo currently sells around 100,000 copies per week, although before the attack it usually sold about 30,000 and was facing financial difficulties.
A survivors’ edition of the magazine released a week after the January attack sold a record 7.5 million copies.