A German tabloid was firebombed very early yesterday morning after reprinting Charlie Hebdo cartoons that depicted the Prophet Mohammed, Agence France-Presse reported.
The Hamburger Morgenpost (MOPO) ran the cartoons on its front page, with the headline, “This much freedom must be possible!”
Hamburg police reported that no one was in the paper’s offices at the time of the arson, which caused only minimal damage.
“Rocks and then a burning object were thrown through the window,” a police spokesperson told AFP. “Two rooms on lower floors were damaged but the fire was put out quickly.”
Two men were detained and questioned after “acting suspiciously” near the scene of the firebombing.
Police also said that it was “too soon” to determine if the attack was related to Charlie Hebdo, but MOPO ran a story about the incident with the headline “Arson attack on the MOPO – Due to the ‘Charlie Hebdo’ Cartoons?”
Later Sunday, MOPO had removed all references to Hebdo from its website but left up a quote from the regional representative body for the media that called the Paris attack a “cowardly and insidious act of terror against press freedom.”
Frank Niggemeier, MOPO’s editor-in-chief, said the paper’s staff was “shocked that something like this could happen in a cosmopolitan and liberal city like Hamburg,” but declined to speculate on motive and said today’s edition would run as scheduled.
