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| MARTIN BUREAU/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES |
The cover of the new edition—due on newsstands with a press run of 1 million copies on Wednesday, a day before the grim anniversary—depicts God with a Kalashnikov slung over his back, cloak and beard spattered with blood, under the headline “The killer is still on the run.”
The edition touches on raw nerves in France after Islamist gunmen and suicide bombers killed 130 people on the streets of Paris in November.
Some say that the militantly atheist newspaper—which became a cause célèbre after two brothers claiming allegiance to al Qaeda gunned down 12 people in revenge for its caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad—has gone too far by suggesting all religions have blood on their hands.
“Accusing believers of sympathizing with terrorists is just not acceptable,” said Catholic priest Pierre-Hervé Grosjean. “I marched for Charlie a year ago, and in our churches we all prayed for the people who used to denigrate us and didn’t make us laugh.”
The tension shows how France’s national wounds are deepening after a year bookended by bloodshed. Despite calls for national unity under the slogan “Je Suis Charlie” in the wake of the January attacks, many in France feel divided. Some French Jews are leaving the country, and many French Muslims say they feel a backlash.
The Nov. 13 Paris massacre left the French population with an even heavier sense of general anxiety. The reaction to the string of attacks at a soccer stadium, bars, restaurants and a concert venue across the city was muted in contrast with the spontaneous and defiant gatherings after the Charlie Hebdo attack, which culminated in a march of more than three million people across France.
For two weeks after the Nov. 13 attacks, police banned public gatherings in Paris under state of emergency powers the government refrained from using after the January attacks. Heavily armed police and soldiers still patrol the streets, sometimes equipped with gas masks.
French President François Hollande’s plans for commemorating the January attacks reflect the solemn atmosphere. He will unveil plaques in several locations on Tuesday, although at the request of families, the events will be low-key and the press isn’t invited, organizers say. Mr. Hollande will address police and security forces Thursday, the anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo attack.
The commemorations will culminate with a tribute Sunday at Place de la République, the square northeast of central Paris that has become a spontaneous memorial site for the terror attacks. Authorities will seal off part of the area to secure dignitaries attending the ceremony, at which a 30-foot oak tree will be planted in memory of all victims of terrorism in Paris in 2015.
A military choir will give a rendition of the French national anthem, La Marseillaise, and French pop icon Johnny Hallyday will sing a song he composed about the events.
Charlie Hebdo’s new issue was met with unease by some in the Muslim community too. Abdallah Zekri, head of the Observatory of Islamophobia in France, said he had expected a “calming and peaceful gesture” from Charlie Hebdo.
A representative of Jewish leaders, however, said it was in Charlie Hebdo’s DNA to be critical of religion. “It’s natural that Charlie Hebdo decided to not retreat. If they had, the terrorists would be seen as the winners,” said Yonathan Arfi, Vice President of CRIF, an umbrella group representing Jewish communities.
Charlie Hebdo has long been a lightning rod for controversy—and often on the brink of going out of business. Before the attacks, the newspaper sold scarcely 30,000 copies a week.
After the assault, Charlie Hebdo benefited from a flood of goodwill, selling 5.5 million copies of its “survivors issue.” Subscriptions jumped to about 250,000 from just 10,000 before the attacks.
Interest has ebbed since, but the publication still boasts sales figures far above pre-attack levels. The newspaper sells approximately 100,000 copies a week on newsstands and has 180,000 subscribers, a spokeswoman said.
The leftist newspaper was initially founded after a predecessor was closed for mocking former French President Charles de Gaulle. Resurrected again in the 1990s, it won world-wide notoriety more than a decade later for being among the publications to reprint cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad that had provoked violent protests.
Extremists firebombed its office in 2011, but the murderous attack in January still came as a shock, wrote Laurent Sourisseau, Charlie Hebdo’s top editor, in a scathing editorial written for Wednesday’s edition.
“After the deafening noise of some sixty shots in three minutes in the newsroom, an enormous silence pervaded the room. Not a word, not a sound. Nothing, apart from the smell of gunpowder,” wrote Mr. Sourisseau, known as Riss, who was wounded in the arm. “Lying on the ground, eyes glued to the ceiling, I knew then that Charlie was dead.”
In the editorial, Mr. Sourisseau said all that the newspaper had survived over the decades gave him and the staff the “rage” to continue, extending his enmity well beyond Islamist terrorists to those he accuses of wishing for his paper’s demise—from Catholics to “jealous journalists.”
“Never have we wanted so much to beat the crap out of those who dreamed of our disappearance,” he wrote.
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