German newspaper Hamburger Morgenpost (Hamburg Morning Post) that reprinted Prophet Mohammed cartoons from the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo was the target of an arson attack early Sunday, police said.
“Rocks and then a burning object were thrown through the window,” a police spokesman told AFP.
“Two rooms on lower floors were damaged but the fire was put out quickly.”
The Hamburger Morgenpost had splashed three Charlie Hebdo cartoons on its front page after the massacre at the Paris publication, running the headline: “This much freedom must be possible!”
No one was hurt in the attack, which police said occurred at about 02:20 local time.
Two people were detained, while state security has opened an investigation, police said.
Whether there was a connection between the Charlie Hebdo cartoons and the attack was the “key question”, the police spokesman said, adding that it was “too soon” to know for certain.
Police declined to provide further information about the suspects.
No one at the Hamburger Morgenpost, known locally as the Mopo and which has a circulation of around 91,000, could immediately be reached for comment.
“Thick smoke is still hanging in the air, the police are looking for clues,” the newspaper said in its online edition.
Media reports said the newspaper’s publishers had ordered private security protection for the building in the western district of Othmarschen.
German news agency DPA reported that the attack had occurred from a courtyard of the building and hit the newspaper’s archive room where some records were destroyed.
It quoted a police spokeswoman as saying that the editorial team should be able to continue work in the building as the damage was relatively minor.
Several German newspapers had published Charlie Hebdo’s Mohammed cartoons on their front pages on January 8 in a gesture of solidarity with the French cartoonists and in defense of free speech.
