Prosecutor wants Paris Match pulled over Nice attack pictures

The Paris prosecutor on Thursday demanded the withdrawal of the current edition of Paris Match which contains images from last year's Bastille Day attack that killed 86 people in Nice.

White roses, each representing one of the 86 victims, are put in place during the ceremony in tribute to the victims and the families of the fatal truck attack in Nice on July 14 2016 REUTERS/Eric Gaillard

Two victims' groups asked the prosecutor on Wednesday to intervene, accusing the weekly news magazine of sensationalising the attack by publishing images from surveillance cameras.

"These screen grabs, published without any precautions, are an affront to the dignity of the victims and their families" and were published "only to create a sensation," the groups said in a statement.

The Paris prosecutor made an urgent request to a court to pull the magazine from newsstands and to "ban publication in all formats, notably digital", of the issue.

The prosecutor has also opened a probe into the leaking of the images on the eve of the anniversary of the attack which saw a Tunisian Islamist radical drive a truck into a crowd watching fireworks on the Nice beachfront.

This year, instead of a fireworks display that drew some 30,000 revellers last year to the famous Promenade des Anglais there will be candles, a memory book and a solemn speech by President Emmanuel Macron.

Nice mayor Christian Estrosi also slammed the publication of pictures he said where "intolerable" and would "surely revive the families' grief."

Paris Match editor Olivier Royant said the magazine "wanted to pay homage to the victims... one year on, in a duty of remembrance".

He said in a statement that the images had been published previously by other news outlets and the individuals in them could not be identified.

A judge is to rule on the prosecutor's request later today.