Charlie Hebdo mostly sold out in Netherlands

Charlie Hebdo was finally delivered to retailers in the Netherlands Friday morning, only to be quickly sold out in most branches. Following a printing failure which delayed the satirical magazine's delivery to the Netherlands on Thursday, the 500 copies allocated to the country went on sale early Friday morning mainly at Dutch booksellers AKO and Bruna, as promised by the French printer in an apology on Thursday. Both retailers had no problem selling their copies of the magazine. A spokesman for AKO described the sale of the magazine as "crazy" and a "storm", according to nu.nl. Queues of desperate shoppers were waiting at the AKO stores in Amsterdam Central Station when they opened at 6:30a.m. on Friday, where the magazine was sold out within a few minutes. Most buyers said they had never read Charlie Hebdo before. Those in line in the early morning attributed their interest in buying the magazine to its historic value and to wanting to form an independent opinion of the magazine. One of the branches purchased only twenty-five copies, leaving the people at the end of the queue disappointed. AKO director Sjaak Mark said this was "inevitable" given the limited distribution allocated to the Netherlands. There may still be copies available in those stores that opened later in the morning. Mark also said that AKO was "surprised by the enormous media attention in recent days". A man who camped out in the station on Wednesday night and then again on Thursday night to get his hands on the magazine said that it was "all worth it".