A Turkish court ordered the country's telecommunications authority to ban national access to websites showing Charlie Hebdo's front cover depicting the Prophet Muhammad on Wednesday, highlighting the tensions over decisions to publish the image in the officially secular country.

The call for the ban comes the same day that the first issue of the satirical magazine was issued following a brutal attack on the office left 12 dead.

The Anadolu Agency said the ban, which would block access to the websites in Turkey, was ordered by a court in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir, according to the Dogan news agency. The decision came from the court, because a lawyer in Diyarbakir filed a petition saying the websites were a danger to "public order."

Earlier, police stopped trucks leaving pro-secular newspaper Cumhuriyet's printing center and checked the paper's content after it decided to print a selection of Charlie Hebdo caricatures. The paper printed a four-page selection of cartoons and articles in a show of solidarity with Charlie Hebdo.

Cumhuriyet said police allowed distribution to proceed after thinking that the satirical French newspaper's latest cover featuring the prophet wasn't published. But the moderate-leftist paper ran a scaled-down version of the cartoon depicting a tearful Muhammad holding a sign saying “I am Charlie”. Two writers used the image as part of their column borders.

It wasn't immediately clear if the columnists' use of the cover image escaped the attention of police.

"While preparing this selection, we respected societies' freedoms of faith and religious sensitivities," Cumhuriyet editor-in-chief Uktu Cakirozer said in a statement.

"There may have been some (people) who were worried that this would be an issue that would belittle religious beliefs... But I believe that people won't think that way when they see today's issue," Cakirozer later told The Associated Press in an interview.

On the two columnists' decision to use images of the cover in their columns, Cakirozer said: "That was the personal choice of our writers."

Police intensified security outside Cumhuriyet's headquarters and printing center as a precaution. Small groups of pro-Islamic demonstrators protested Cumhuriyet in Ankara and in the central city of Konya, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

On Wednesday night, protesters held a tense demonstration outside the Cumhuriyet offices in Istanbul as well. Turkish police, who had been on the scene since before distribution, blocked off the area and arrested five protesters.

Crowd gathering in front of the Cumhuriyet newspaper. Shouting Kouchi brothers are our honour #CharlieHebdo #turkey pic.twitter.com/m00B73PVPO — Atilla Darbejiyov (@zihinbukucu) January 14, 2015

Islam considers any depiction of Mohammed to be blasphemous – the prophet is not even portrayed in mosques or Islamic artwork. So to see Charlie Hebdo’s caricature rendition of their prophet is upsetting for many Muslims, radical and moderate. Since Turkey is a secular country with a 99% Muslim population, some citizens found themselves teetering between their values.

Meanwhile, in Paris, people lined up at newsstands in the early morning hours. The Charlie Hebdo issue sold out in minutes.

UPDATE 6:15 p.m. ET to reflect information on arrest outside Cumhuriyet.

Some information in this story was provided by The Associated Press