A French public prosecutor on Thursday asked a court to order the removal of Paris Match's latest edition from news stands after it published graphic pictures of the Bastille day attack in Nice one year ago that killed 86 people and injured hundreds.
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.
The magazine said the images, which show the truck ploughing through a crowd watching fireworks on the seafront Promenade des Anglais, were taken from city's CCTV surveillance system.
Other pictures show the bloodied body of the 31-year-old Tunisian attacker in the cab of his hire truck, a selfie the Islamic State loyalist took on the afternoon of the attack on the promenade, and other taken at the same site over the previous 12 months.
The Paris prosecutor urged a court to take an emergency decision to halt sales of the latest edition, a judicial source told Reuters.
Those pictures "are an insult to the victims' dignity," said Eric Morain, a lawyer for several victims' associations. They "create a morbid and voyeuristic atmosphere that has nothing to do with freedom of information," he added, asking judicial authorities to get the magazine off the newsstands.
Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi said the images were "unbearable and despicable."
In an online statement, Paris Match defended the images saying they were meant to inform the public and ensure the victims were not forgotten.
A decision will be taken at around 2 pm (1200 GMT), the judicial source said.
Several media had been criticised last year for showing graphic images of victims.
President Emmanuel Macron will be in Nice on Friday for a ceremony to honour the attack victims.
The government has come under fire for the way it deals with helping the victims of the attack.