Huge Response For "Charlie Hebdo" In Scunthorpe

As people in Northern Lincolnshire queued up today to get their hands on the latest edition of French satirical magazine "Charlie Hebdo", no-one has been able to get their hands on a copy yet.

It's the first issue since gunmen killed twelve people in a terror attack on its Paris offices and features a picture of the Prophet Mohammed on the front cover.

It was meant to be available in some UK bookshops and newsagents today but there were problems with shops getting hold of them.

An independent store in Scunthorpe was supposed to be selling copies of the magazine this morning but owner, Matthew Stephenson was told that UK distributors don't have them yet. He told Viking FM:

"I arrived at half past 8 this morning and I was told people had been queuing since before 8 o'clock but everybody was so understanding. I just took people's phone numbers and told them that I would reserve them a copy and ring them as soon as I hear when we could get it in. I've not had time to count how many people have reserved a copy today but I definitely need to increase the order to around 300 copies at least due to the demand.

"The whole of the public have been behind me and people have been shaking my hand, saying what a wonderful thing it is that I have done and it has been very humbling to hear that."

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Despite the positive response from the local community, Matthew says he has been approached by police who are concerned about any repercussions. He says:

"The fire brigade came in the shop yesterday asking to give the fire safety of the shop and the reason they were doing this was because we were going to be selling Charlie Hebdo. I also wasn't expecting police to also then come into the shop asking us to be vigilant but they did say they have got no reason to believe that we will be a target of anything but I just suppose that's the nature of the magazine."

People travelled from far and wide to try and get their hands on a copy in Scunthorpe today. We spoke to some of those who attempted to get one.

Pete told Viking FM

"I'd like to get a copy and have a look and on some trivial level show some support. I did wonder if it would be sold out as the response it has received does not surprise me."

We also spoke to Michael who said:

"I think it has become a symbol of freedom of speech and freedom of creativity and I think that's really important to support such a magazine in their endeavour to continue to freely express themselves and their views."

While this customer said:

"I was just inquisitive and curious to know what was going on. I have travelled from Lincoln as I get a lot of satirical magazines just to have a read and to see what the other point of view is. I think we should be able to at least mock each other in a proper sort of way."