Charlie Hebdo reappears defiant

New issue publishes Muhammad cartoon on front page under words 'All is forgiven'

French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo defied the perpetrators of last week's bloodbath by putting a cartoon of a weeping Prophet Muhammad on its next cover.

The no-holds-barred publication released the front page of what it called the "survivors' issue", due out on Wednesday, featuring Muhammed in a white turban and holding a sign that reads Je suis Charlie, or "I am Charlie", under the words "All is forgiven".

French media interpreted that as meaning Muhammad is forgiving the cartoonists for lampooning him, according to an AP report.

The issue will be the first since two Islamist gunmen stormed Charlie Hebdo's Paris offices on Jan 7 and massacred 12 people, saying they were taking revenge for previous publications of Muhammad cartoons - considered deeply offensive to many Muslims.

In a further show of defiance, the magazine announced it would print 3 million copies - not the usual 60,000 - when it reappears on newsstands this week.

Charlie Hebdo reappears defiant

By Agencies in Paris

New issue publishes Muhammad cartoon on front page under words 'All is forgiven'

The French Council of the Muslim Religion and the Union of French Islamic Organizations released a joint statement calling for Muslims to "stay calm and avoid emotive reactions" to the new issue of the magazine.

'France will never yield'

Charlie Hebdo has become an international symbol of free speech since the massacre and a second attack two days later at a kosher Jewish supermarket.

A total of 17 people were killed in the two attacks.

Nearly 4 million people - including 1.5 million in Paris, participating in the biggest rally in French history - demonstrated across France on Sunday to denounce the killings.

French President Francois Hollande said: "France will never yield, will never bend, it will face up," as he honored the three police officers killed last week at a solemn ceremony at police headquarters in Paris.

Grieving relatives and hundreds of their uniformed colleagues watched as he spoke.

German Muslim rally

Chancellor Angela Merkel is set to join a Muslim community rally on Tuesday to promote tolerance, condemn the jihadist attacks in Paris and send a rebuke to a growing German anti-Islamic movement.

President Joachim Gauck is due to address the vigil starting at 1700 GMT at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate, organized by the Central Council of Muslims under the banner "Let's be there for each other. Terror: not in our name!"

Christian and Jewish community representatives will also speak, and a crowd of thousands is expected to turn out.

"Hatred, racism and extremism have no place in this country," Merkel said in a speech in Berlin on Tuesday.

"We are a country based on democracy, tolerance and openness to the world."

Merkel has thanked leaders of Germany's 4-million-strong Muslim community for quickly and clearly condemning the violence in Paris.

"Germany wants peaceful coexistence of Muslims and members of other religions", she said at a joint news conference with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu Monday, adding the vigil would send "a very strong message".

The German leader, to be joined by most of her Cabinet at the event, has spoken out firmly against the right-wing populist "Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the Occident", or PEGIDA, and stressed on Monday that "Islam is part of Germany".

PEGIDA late on Monday drew a record 25,000 marchers to its 12th weekly rally in Dresden, in former east Germany, its flag-waving members holding a minute's silence for the victims of the Charlie Hebdo attacks.

AFP - AP