Charlie Hebdo unveils another controversial cover

Magazine Charlie Hebdo has revealed its one year anniversary cover following the 2015 attacks that killed 10 of its staff.
Released on Wednesday, the cover depicts God as a bearded man with bloodied sleeves, with the headline “1 An Apres: L’Asssassin Court Toujors (One Year On: The Assassin Is Still Out There)”.
The man appears to be on the run, with a machine gun slung over his shoulder – the weapon used in last November’s Paris terror attacks.
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One million copies of the anniversary edition will be printed and distributed all over the world.
Charlie Hebdo’s offices were attacked on January 7, 2015, in response to the magazine’s satirical representation of the Islamic faith.
The magazine is known for lampooning not only Islam on its covers, but other religions and politicians.
Many of the publication’s top staff were killed when Islamic militants opened fire on its offices in the French capital, killing 10 staff and one security guard, and injuring another 11.
The three gunmen were eventually shot dead by French police during three days of violence which also included gunmen killing 17 inside a Paris kosher supermarket.
The attacks on freedom of speech struck a bitter chord in the hearts of Parisians, who expound the French maxim, ‘Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite’.
Following the attacks, Paris and the world showed solidarity for victims and the right for publications to satire Islam with the phrase, “Je Suis Charlie (I am Charlie)”, which featured on the magazine’s cover.
Over 7.5 million people purchased the post-attacks Charlie Hebdo edition, when the magazine’s circulation had dropped to 30,000 only months prior.
In November 2015, Islamist militants killed 130 people in coordinated attacks across Paris, including inside a popular concert hall.
With the country on high alert since then and right through the New Year holiday season, soldiers will be out in force protecting official buildings and religious sites for the “Charlie” anniversary.
Commemorative plaques will be unveiled on Tuesday at the various sites of the January attacks, including at the weekly’s former offices, in modest ceremonies attended by families and government officials, a City of Paris spokesman said.
On January 10, another, more public ceremony will take place on the Place de la Republique, the square in eastern Paris that attracted mass rallies in favour of free speech and democratic values after the attacks and became an informal memorial.