AFPThe far-right politician Rasmus Paludan with a Koran at a mosque in Copenhagen
NOS News•today, 21:20•Edited today, 21:23
The Danish government is looking for a legal option to prevent Koran burnings at foreign embassies. That is what Minister of Foreign Affairs Rasmussen told the public broadcaster DR.
“The burnings are abusive and reckless acts committed by a small number of individuals. They do not represent the values upon which Danish society is built,” Rasmussen said in a statement.
In Scandinavian countries, Quran burnings are more common, leading to protests abroad. Hundreds of people demonstrated outside the Danish embassy in Baghdad last week after the ultra-nationalist Danske Patrioter group allegedly burned a Quran in front of the Iraqi embassy in Copenhagen.
Intervene in special cases
The Danish government now wants to investigate whether it is possible to intervene in special situations, for example when other countries, cultures and religions are offended, and the Quran burning could endanger Denmark’s security.
Rasmussen does not believe that freedom of expression is at stake with this, he says at DR. “We don’t have full freedom of speech: we also have a racism provision. There are limits to what one can say.”
Still, it is not easy to find a legal instrument to limit Koran burnings, he acknowledges. “Experts from the Ministry of Justice are working overtime.”
‘Same analysis’ in Sweden
Swedish Prime Minister Kristersson writes on Instagram that he consulted with Danish Prime Minister Frederiksen this weekend about burning copies of holy scriptures. “We are now making the same analysis,” writes Kristersson.
“In Sweden we have also started to analyze the legal situation,” the prime minister reports. This will examine whether it is possible to take measures “to strengthen our national security and the security of Sweden in Sweden and in the world”.
The prime minister said this week that he is “deeply concerned” about the consequences if more Qurans are burned during protests in his country. He fears “something bad will happen” if this continues.
Last week, the Swedish embassy in Baghdad was stormed by hundreds of people in protest at the announcement of a Quran burning in front of the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm. Later that day, the Iraqi government announced that it would expel the Swedish ambassador, because Sweden had authorized the burning.
2023-07-30 19:20:00
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