Muslims fight for pigs' rights
By The Copenhagen Post
Danish imam Abdul Wahid Petersen and several other Muslims have started a group, 'Muslims for Danish pigs' rights', to show that Muslims have a lot more on their minds than headscarves, reports public broadcaster DR.
'As Muslims, we think about a lot more things than we're normally associated with,' he told DR.
He explained that Muslims believed they had a religious obligation to the world they were a part of. And since pigs were part of the world, they were there to look after them.
Which pigs is this imam speaking off?!?
Christians?!?
Jews, the descendants of apes & pigs?!?
Or pigs that are the source of the incredible edible delight known as bacon?!?
Pertinent Links:
1) Muslims fight for pigs' rights
Showing posts with label denmark. Show all posts
Showing posts with label denmark. Show all posts
Friday, April 25, 2008
Thursday, April 10, 2008
DAR AL HARB-DENMARK: AN ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY NEAR YOU
Islamic university on the way
By The Copenhagen Post
The Islamic Faith Society will co-operate with a leading Islamic institute to provide graduate courses for Danish Muslims
Well-educated Danish Muslims will soon be able to take Islamic university-level courses in law, economics and international relations here in the country, reports Berlingske Tidende newspaper.
The Islamic Faith Society will begin offering graduate courses in conjunction with the Al-Azhar University in Cairo, one of the most renowned religious and intellectual institutions in the Muslim world.
Bilal Assaad, chairperson of the Islamic Faith Society said: 'Instead of Danish Muslims having to travel to Egypt or other Muslim countries, we feel that it would be advantageous for them to take graduate courses here in Copenhagen.'
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Islamic university on the way
By The Copenhagen Post
The Islamic Faith Society will co-operate with a leading Islamic institute to provide graduate courses for Danish Muslims
Well-educated Danish Muslims will soon be able to take Islamic university-level courses in law, economics and international relations here in the country, reports Berlingske Tidende newspaper.
The Islamic Faith Society will begin offering graduate courses in conjunction with the Al-Azhar University in Cairo, one of the most renowned religious and intellectual institutions in the Muslim world.
Bilal Assaad, chairperson of the Islamic Faith Society said: 'Instead of Danish Muslims having to travel to Egypt or other Muslim countries, we feel that it would be advantageous for them to take graduate courses here in Copenhagen.'
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Islamic university on the way
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
DAR AL HARB-DENMARK: HEADSCARVES FOR MOSLEM DANISH MP'S
Green light for headscarves in parliament
In a victory for Muslims in Denmark, the parliament's board of governors has ruled women MPs may wear the traditional Islamic headscarf inside the building.
But the board said the MPs must be recognisable, ruling out the wearing in parliament of the burka - which covers a women's body from head to toe, including her face.
The board's decision was greeted with satisfaction by the leftist Red-Green Alliance party's parliamentary candidate, Asmaa Abdol-Hamid, a Danish immigrant born in the United Arab Emirates to Palestinian parents.
"It's the decision I expected. Anything else would have been a blow against democracy and in conflict with the constitution,' she said.
The board's ruling on Tuesday came as a blow to the far-right Danish People's Party. The party waged a drawn-out battle against the headscarf and had sought to ban it in parliament.
Danish People's Party board member Soeren Espersen was the only one who voted against allowing the headscarf in parliament.
'I'm saddened by the decision. It's a blow to the oppression the headscarf symbolises,' said Espersen, cited by the Copenhagen Post.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Green light for headscarves in parliament
In a victory for Muslims in Denmark, the parliament's board of governors has ruled women MPs may wear the traditional Islamic headscarf inside the building.
But the board said the MPs must be recognisable, ruling out the wearing in parliament of the burka - which covers a women's body from head to toe, including her face.
The board's decision was greeted with satisfaction by the leftist Red-Green Alliance party's parliamentary candidate, Asmaa Abdol-Hamid, a Danish immigrant born in the United Arab Emirates to Palestinian parents.
"It's the decision I expected. Anything else would have been a blow against democracy and in conflict with the constitution,' she said.
The board's ruling on Tuesday came as a blow to the far-right Danish People's Party. The party waged a drawn-out battle against the headscarf and had sought to ban it in parliament.
Danish People's Party board member Soeren Espersen was the only one who voted against allowing the headscarf in parliament.
'I'm saddened by the decision. It's a blow to the oppression the headscarf symbolises,' said Espersen, cited by the Copenhagen Post.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Green light for headscarves in parliament
Thursday, February 28, 2008
DAR AL HARB-GERMANY: THE DHIMMIFIED GERMANS CANCEL AN ART EXHIBIT BECAUSE OF THREATS FROM 'MODERATE' MOSLEMS
Exhibit closed after threats over mosque photo
AN exhibition by Danish artists in Berlin has been closed due to threats received over a photo deemed to be offensive to Muslims, organisers said.
The exhibition, which opened in central Berlin on February 22, has been closed to ensure the safety of staff and visitors, Ralf Hartmann from the artists' collective Kunstverein Tiergarten said today.
The show by Danish collective Surrend is aimed at depicting what they say is the absurdity of extremism in all religions.
One of the 21 photos is of the Kaaba - the cube-shaped building inside the Grande Mosque in Mecca - with the inscription describing the stone as "stupid".
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Exhibit closed after threats over mosque photo
AN exhibition by Danish artists in Berlin has been closed due to threats received over a photo deemed to be offensive to Muslims, organisers said.
The exhibition, which opened in central Berlin on February 22, has been closed to ensure the safety of staff and visitors, Ralf Hartmann from the artists' collective Kunstverein Tiergarten said today.
The show by Danish collective Surrend is aimed at depicting what they say is the absurdity of extremism in all religions.
One of the 21 photos is of the Kaaba - the cube-shaped building inside the Grande Mosque in Mecca - with the inscription describing the stone as "stupid".
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Exhibit closed after threats over mosque photo
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
DAR AL ISLAM-SUDAN: "DOWN, DOWN, DENMARK"
Shame on the enemy of Islam - protesters
Khartoum, Sudan - Thousands of Sudanese chanted slogans against Denmark on Wednesday in a government-backed rally protesting the publishing in Danish newspapers of a cartoon satirising Islam's Prophet Muhammad.
"Down, down, Denmark," chanted the growing crowd at the Shuhada Square in downtown Khartoum, where President Omar al-Bashir and other top officials were to address the gathering from the Republican Palace.
The square was closed for traffic as hundreds of buses and trucks brought in protesters, who included women and students, from far-flung areas around the capital to downtown Khartoum. Nearby roads were also blocked and traffic slowed elsewhere in the city.
Since coming to power in an Islamist and military coup in 1989, al-Bashir has imposed the Muslim Sharia law on the country's north, which is predominantly Arab.
Sudan was one of the nations where large protests were held against Denmark in 2006 when 12 cartoons depicting Prophet Muhammad and Islam were first published. In riots that followed around the Muslim world, dozens of people were killed and several Danish embassies were attacked, while Danish goods - including dairy products - were boycotted.
The Khartoum protesters on Wednesday carried banners reading: "We love you our dear Prophet," "Shame on the enemy of Islam," and "Boycott Danish commodities."
"There is no God but Allah, and Mohammed is his messenger," they shouted. "We will protect out Prophet, we will not be intimidated by America!"
Khartoum state governor, Abdul Halim al-Mutaafi, told the local Al Riyadiah radio station that the gathering would call for cutting relations with Denmark and pledged the Sudanese would boycott all Danish goods.
"We don't want them to come to our land nor will we like to go to their land," al-Mutaafi said of the Danes.
The protesters "who came out in Khartoum today are here to denounce those thugs and mean-spirited people who have no religion of faith and who insulted the Prophet," al-Mutaafi said.
The protest organisers, a group known as The Popular Front for the Defense of Faith and Religion which backs the ruling National Congress party of al-Bashir, said they expected a million people to attend.
The rally came a day after Sudan enforced a ban called by al-Bashir on imports of Danish goods in retaliation for the reprint of the cartoon in 17 Danish newspapers showing Prophet Muhammad wearing a bomb-shaped turban. Al-Bashir has also urged that Danish officials be snubbed and its organisations from Sudan be expelled.
On Tuesday, police prevented media from taking photos of the Danish embassy in Khartoum, which was stripped of its flag or any other national symbol,
Danish diplomats in Khartoum said they were not notified of a trade boycott and that Sudanese authorities have not contacted Copenhagen about an eventual expulsion of Danish organisations.
Several aid groups from Denmark operate in Sudan, including the Danish Refugee Council and the Danish Red Cross, which runs large projects to alleviate human suffering in the western Darfur region.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Shame on the enemy of Islam - protesters
Khartoum, Sudan - Thousands of Sudanese chanted slogans against Denmark on Wednesday in a government-backed rally protesting the publishing in Danish newspapers of a cartoon satirising Islam's Prophet Muhammad.
"Down, down, Denmark," chanted the growing crowd at the Shuhada Square in downtown Khartoum, where President Omar al-Bashir and other top officials were to address the gathering from the Republican Palace.
The square was closed for traffic as hundreds of buses and trucks brought in protesters, who included women and students, from far-flung areas around the capital to downtown Khartoum. Nearby roads were also blocked and traffic slowed elsewhere in the city.
Since coming to power in an Islamist and military coup in 1989, al-Bashir has imposed the Muslim Sharia law on the country's north, which is predominantly Arab.
Sudan was one of the nations where large protests were held against Denmark in 2006 when 12 cartoons depicting Prophet Muhammad and Islam were first published. In riots that followed around the Muslim world, dozens of people were killed and several Danish embassies were attacked, while Danish goods - including dairy products - were boycotted.
The Khartoum protesters on Wednesday carried banners reading: "We love you our dear Prophet," "Shame on the enemy of Islam," and "Boycott Danish commodities."
"There is no God but Allah, and Mohammed is his messenger," they shouted. "We will protect out Prophet, we will not be intimidated by America!"
Khartoum state governor, Abdul Halim al-Mutaafi, told the local Al Riyadiah radio station that the gathering would call for cutting relations with Denmark and pledged the Sudanese would boycott all Danish goods.
"We don't want them to come to our land nor will we like to go to their land," al-Mutaafi said of the Danes.
The protesters "who came out in Khartoum today are here to denounce those thugs and mean-spirited people who have no religion of faith and who insulted the Prophet," al-Mutaafi said.
The protest organisers, a group known as The Popular Front for the Defense of Faith and Religion which backs the ruling National Congress party of al-Bashir, said they expected a million people to attend.
The rally came a day after Sudan enforced a ban called by al-Bashir on imports of Danish goods in retaliation for the reprint of the cartoon in 17 Danish newspapers showing Prophet Muhammad wearing a bomb-shaped turban. Al-Bashir has also urged that Danish officials be snubbed and its organisations from Sudan be expelled.
On Tuesday, police prevented media from taking photos of the Danish embassy in Khartoum, which was stripped of its flag or any other national symbol,
Danish diplomats in Khartoum said they were not notified of a trade boycott and that Sudanese authorities have not contacted Copenhagen about an eventual expulsion of Danish organisations.
Several aid groups from Denmark operate in Sudan, including the Danish Refugee Council and the Danish Red Cross, which runs large projects to alleviate human suffering in the western Darfur region.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Shame on the enemy of Islam - protesters
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
DAR AL HARB-DENMARK: THE DANISH FM IN FULL BLOWN DHIMMI MODE
Danish FM calls for respect for Islam, Muslims
Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller in a telephone conversation with his Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki on Monday called for respect for Islam and Muslims.
According to the Information and Press Bureau of Iran's Foreign Ministry, the Danish foreign minister said, "We differentiate between freedom of speech and insulting followers of religions."
Such problems will leave negative impacts on relations between European countries and world Muslims, he said, adding that "We can raise the issue in the European Union meetings and make constructive decisions to this end."
Mottaki, for his part, expressed regret over reprinting of blasphemous caricatures by Danish media and strongly condemn the move, calling for adoption of required measures to prevent recurrence of such seditious moves.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Danish FM calls for respect for Islam, Muslims
Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller in a telephone conversation with his Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki on Monday called for respect for Islam and Muslims.
According to the Information and Press Bureau of Iran's Foreign Ministry, the Danish foreign minister said, "We differentiate between freedom of speech and insulting followers of religions."
Such problems will leave negative impacts on relations between European countries and world Muslims, he said, adding that "We can raise the issue in the European Union meetings and make constructive decisions to this end."
Mottaki, for his part, expressed regret over reprinting of blasphemous caricatures by Danish media and strongly condemn the move, calling for adoption of required measures to prevent recurrence of such seditious moves.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Danish FM calls for respect for Islam, Muslims
Thursday, February 21, 2008
DAR AL HARB-DENMARK: A BOMBING IN COPEHAGEN - - - THE REASON?!? MOSLEM JIHAD & THE MO-TOONS
A turn for the worse
A bombing in Copenhagen this morning followed a week of street riots over the 'Prophet' cartoons
Around 11am today a bomb exploded in a solarium in Copenhagen. The suntan shop was situated just by the national football stadium in Oesterbro, a peaceful and affluent part of the Danish capital. The explosion completely destroyed the shop and the surrounding flats were also damaged. The police are putting the fact that no one was hurt down to sheer luck; two other bags were found in the area and have been destroyed. Two young men between the ages of 15 and 25 were seen running away from the crime scene; they were described as "foreign-looking" and are now wanted by the police.
The explosion is a drastic escalation of the week-long riots on the streets Denmark where young Muslim men have vented their anger and frustration towards Danish society by setting fire to cars and burning bonfires in the streets. The rioters claim that their action is a protest against the reprinting of the prophet cartoons, which took place last Wednesday when a unified Danish press decided to print/reprint the cartoon depicting the prophet Muhammad with a bomb in his turban. The decision to reprint was taken when the Danish security service (PET) notified the public that three men had been arrested on suspicion of plotting the murder of the cartoonist, Kurt Westergaard.
However, it is debatable whether the reprinting of the cartoons was the real reason behind the rioting. The night before they were published the air on Oesterbro was thick with the smoke of bonfires and burning rubber, carried by the wind from neighbouring Noerrebro, where much of the rioting has taken place. The cartoons no doubt had an explosive effect on matters, but the fire was already burning.
Denmark, once acknowledged for her liberal stance and social egalitarianism, has over the last years become an increasingly polarised society where the differences between the Danish majority and migrants and especially Muslim migrants have been the dominant political agenda.
This was certainly the case back in 2005 when Jyllands Posten chose to print the 12 prophet cartoons. The following months the Danes had the dubious honour of being on the cover of magazines around the world and TV crews from CNN, BBC, and CBS visited Denmark to tell the story about the people behind the cartoons.
Back then, the debate about whether the cartoons were right or wrong split the nation in two. On one side were the idealists who defended the them on the grounds of speech. For them this was about making an important stance against what - in Denmark - is still perceived as "the threat" from Islam. Needless to say, the xenophobes joined this side of the argument. On the other side were the pragmatists - the internationalists, if you will. These included most liberals, including most broadsheet papers. The domestic debate was far from pretty, and the rightwing Danish People's Party benefited enormously from the tense atmosphere. Two years later, many liberals and the liberal press seem to have joined the idealistic and confrontationalist boat.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) A turn for the worse
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
DAR AL HARB-DENMARK: ANOTHER DHIMMI HEARD FROM
Danes clash on web in Prophet row
The controversy in Denmark over the reprinting of one of the 12 cartoons satirising the Prophet Muhammad this week has triggered an unusual dialogue on social networking group Facebook, writes the BBC's religious affairs correspondent Frances Harrison.
Anders says the debate in the media has been very black-and-white
The row began with Tuesday's arrests of three Muslims in Denmark said by the intelligence services to be plotting to kill one of the cartoonists.
All the major Danish newspapers next day rallied round their colleague, reprinting his drawing of the Prophet Muhammad with a bomb in his turban as a sign of solidarity.
But now young Danish student Anders Boetter says he has decided to start a Facebook site called Sorry Muhammad to apologise to Muslims on behalf of ordinary Danes and also give them a voice in the controversy over the row.
What does hurt my feelings is when a Danish newspaper publishes these very mocking cartoons of Muhammad
Anders says that in the last two years since the first printing of the cartoons, the media has built up a debate which is very black-and-white.
"Either you were for the Muhammad drawings or you were against it, but I believe there are many Danes who do not feel that way - they're somewhere in between and I am one of them," he explains.
"I am myself an atheist, but I do respect any kind of religion," he says, adding that the cartoons therefore do not offend him but he understands that it "hurts the feelings of Muslims a lot".
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Danes clash on web in Prophet row
Friday, February 15, 2008
DAR AL HARB-DENMARK: STOP RIOTING YOU IDIOTS - - - INFIDELS WILL REALIZE WE MEAN TO CONQUER THEM...THEY MAY ACTUALLY FIGHT BACK & NOT WITH MOTOONS
Leading Danish imam urges youth to stop rioting
A prominent Danish imam urged rioting youth to stop setting fires and hurling rocks at police after a fifth consecutive night of vandalism in Copenhagen and other Danish cities.
Youth violence has marred immigrant neighborhoods in Copenhagen and other Danish cities all week, and some believe they intensified with the reproduction of a Prophet Muhammad cartoon in Danish newspapers Wednesday.
"Please stop what you're doing," Imam Mostafa Chendid, the leader of the Islamic Faith Community, said in an address to young people during Friday's prayer.
"The prophet has not taught you to burn down schools, or burn cars or infrastructure. Muhammad has taught us civilization," Chendid said.
A few hundred Muslims attended the prayer in a Copenhagen mosque, which serves as the headquarters of an Islamic organization that led protests against Danish newspaper cartoons of Muhammad in 2006.
Chendid called the cartoons "harmful," but said any protests against them must be peaceful.
One of the 12 prophet drawings, which sparked massive protests in Muslim countries in 2006, was reprinted in Danish newspapers Wednesday after police foiled an alleged plot to kill the artist who created it.
The papers said the reproduction was a statement for free speech, but it was seen as offensive by many Muslims because Islamic law generally opposes any depiction of the prophet, even favorable, for fear it could lead to idolatry.
Hundreds of people rallied Friday in various parts of Pakistan against the cartoon, setting fire to Danish flags and demanding the Danish ambassador's expulsion. Iran summoned Denmark's ambassador on Wednesday to protest the newspapers' decision to print the drawing.
In Copenhagen, about 800 people protested peacefully Friday in a march organized by the radical Muslim group Hizb ut-Tahrir.
...
Nine youths were arrested overnight Friday in Copenhagen, six of whom faced preliminary charges for throwing rocks at police officers, police said Friday. There were no reports of injuries.
Police said they were not sure what triggered the unrest. Some observers said immigrant youths were protesting against perceived police harassment, and suggested the reprinting of the cartoon may have aggravated the situation.
Firefighters responded to dozens of fires in and around the capital where 11 cars were burned. About 10 cars were torched in Kokkedal, north of Copenhagen, while a school in Bagsvaerd, west of the city, was partly destroyed in a presumed arson, police said.
In some cases, firefighters said they were hindered from putting out the fires by rock-throwing youths.
There were also reports of fires and vandalism in other Danish cities, including Aarhus, Ringsted and Slagelse. No arrests were made in those cities.
Pertinent Links:
1) Leading Danish imam urges youth to stop rioting
Thursday, February 14, 2008
DAR AL HARB-DENMARK: MOSLEMS PISSED OFF ABOUT THE MO-TOONS...AGAIN...TO RIOT OR NOT TO RIOT?!? THAT IS THE QUESTION...
Cartoon reprint offends Muslims
COPENHAGEN, Denmark - Danish newspapers reprinted cartoons of the prophet Mohammed in a gesture of solidarity Wednesday after police revealed a plot to kill the creator of the caricature that sparked deadly riots in the Muslim world.
Danish Muslims said they would seek to avoid a repeat of the violence two years ago - but with a right wing Dutch lawmaker planning to air a movie that condemns Islam as fascist, Europe pondered the possibility of a new cycle of turmoil.
"I just don't want go through this again," said Mohammed Shafiq of the Ramadhan Foundation, a Muslim educational group in London. Shafiq said he has written a protest letter to the Danish ambassador in London.
Other Muslim groups echoed his sentiments, saying they believed the Danish papers were seeking unnecessarily to rekindle the fiery debate over free speech and Islam that engulfed Europe in 2006.
More than a dozen papers in Denmark reprinted what was arguably the most controversial of the 12 cartoons that enraged Muslims in early 2006 when they appeared in Western newspapers.
The drawing, by newspaper cartoonist Kurt Westergaard, depicts Islam's prophet wearing a turban shaped like a bomb with a lit fuse. [MY FAVORITE ! ! ! ]
The papers said they wanted to show their firm commitment to freedom of speech after Tuesday's arrest in western Denmark of three people accused of plotting to kill Westergaard.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Cartoon reprint offends Muslims
Saturday, July 14, 2007
DAR AL HARB - DENMARK: MOSLEMS LOSE CARTOON LIBEL CASE
Muslim group loses cartoons libel case in Denmark
By Gelu Sulugiuc and Rasmus Nord Jorgensen
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - A Muslim group lost a libel case on Friday against the leader of a Danish anti-immigrant party who had accused its members of treason for publicizing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad.
A court ruled that Pia Kjaersgaard, leader of the Danish People's Party (DPP), did not libel the Islamic Faith Community when she accused some of its members of treason for traveling to the Middle East to publicize a Danish newspaper's publication of the drawings, which caused a worldwide uproar in 2006.
The court said the term "treason" was not libelous because it was used extensively in public debate. It ordered the plaintiffs, a loose network of Danish Muslim organizations which says it represents 50,000 members, to pay Kjaersgaard 40,000 Danish crowns ($7,400) in costs.
In September 2005, the newspaper Jyllands-Posten published 12 cartoons of the Prophet which were later reprinted elsewhere and provoked outrage among Muslims.
Three Danish embassies were attacked and at least 50 people were killed in rioting in the Middle East and Asia. Most Muslims regard any depiction of the Prophet as offensive.
"We are very disappointed with the verdict and are considering an appeal," said Kasem Ahmad, a spokesman for the Muslim group. He added that the group would issue a fatwa, or religious edict, against Jyllands-Posten if it did not receive an apology from the paper.
"It's too early to say any details of the fatwa," Ahmad said. "The fatwa is the last step and will also satisfy Muslims in the Middle East."
Kjaersgaard said she was relieved at the outcome but had expected to win.
"As a politician, I have both the duty and the right to express my opinion," she said. "I am convinced that many Danes felt as I did in the hectic winter days of 2006."
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Muslim group loses cartoons libel case in Denmark
By Gelu Sulugiuc and Rasmus Nord Jorgensen
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - A Muslim group lost a libel case on Friday against the leader of a Danish anti-immigrant party who had accused its members of treason for publicizing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad.
A court ruled that Pia Kjaersgaard, leader of the Danish People's Party (DPP), did not libel the Islamic Faith Community when she accused some of its members of treason for traveling to the Middle East to publicize a Danish newspaper's publication of the drawings, which caused a worldwide uproar in 2006.
The court said the term "treason" was not libelous because it was used extensively in public debate. It ordered the plaintiffs, a loose network of Danish Muslim organizations which says it represents 50,000 members, to pay Kjaersgaard 40,000 Danish crowns ($7,400) in costs.
In September 2005, the newspaper Jyllands-Posten published 12 cartoons of the Prophet which were later reprinted elsewhere and provoked outrage among Muslims.
Three Danish embassies were attacked and at least 50 people were killed in rioting in the Middle East and Asia. Most Muslims regard any depiction of the Prophet as offensive.
"We are very disappointed with the verdict and are considering an appeal," said Kasem Ahmad, a spokesman for the Muslim group. He added that the group would issue a fatwa, or religious edict, against Jyllands-Posten if it did not receive an apology from the paper.
"It's too early to say any details of the fatwa," Ahmad said. "The fatwa is the last step and will also satisfy Muslims in the Middle East."
Kjaersgaard said she was relieved at the outcome but had expected to win.
"As a politician, I have both the duty and the right to express my opinion," she said. "I am convinced that many Danes felt as I did in the hectic winter days of 2006."
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Muslim group loses cartoons libel case in Denmark
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
DAR AL HARB - DENMARK: KHADER HAS ASSIMILATED TO THE POINT THAT HE IS NOW GOING TO WORK TOWARDS DENMARKS COMPLETE ASSIMILATION INTO DHIMMITUDE
Muslim Politician Is Messenger of Change
By Manfred Ertel
In Denmark of all places -- the country with Europe's toughest immigration laws -- a Muslim member of parliament has become a rising star on the political scene. Now he wants to shake up traditional Danish politics with his new party.
Is this the kind of man Danish voters are pinning their hopes on? The sort of man who is causing an upheaval in the calcified political atmosphere between Århus and Copenhagen? He is casually dressed, and his black hair and bronze skin reveal his Arab roots. He also happens to be a Muslim.
Naser Khader, 43, sits in his makeshift office in Copenhagen's old town surrounded by boxes, laptops and loose cables. "It was so boring here, with absolutely nothing going on," he says. "I am very pleased that we have managed to get some movement into politics."
...
Khader and his story personify the most hotly debated question in Denmark today: How many foreigners should be allowed into the country, and how many immigrants and refugees can the Danish welfare system bear? No more than are already there, argues the xenophobic Danish People's Party (DPP), and especially not any Muslims. As far as the DPP is concerned, Muslims are nothing but forms of "cancer" whose goal in life is to murder the "real Danes."
The populist right-wing party managed to get Europe's toughest immigration laws on the books because Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen and his center-right minority government needed its support. Even the Council of Europe has criticized Denmark for promoting "an atmosphere of intolerance and xenophobia."
Khader wants to fight the right-wing populists. He also wants to secure more power for himself, as a member of a new center-right government. The country's immigration policy must change, he says: "Our borders must be open." But, he adds, "our social security funds should be closed."
The parliamentarian is currently riding a wave of sympathy. His offices are literally teeming with young volunteers, who see Khader as a kind of pop star. As Redington has discovered, the newcomer derives much of his support from more well-educated and higher-earning voters, who are tired of high taxes and Denmark's poor reputation. "For them," says Redington, "he is the message of change."
Khader doesn't see his role as being quite so revolutionary. "We are not a protest party, but a people's party," he says. "We are the first party of the new center." When asked if he sees himself as an Arab Dane, Khader, who holds a Master's degree in political science, responds: "I have faith, but I'm not religious. And I am a fanatical democrat." And yet there is much about the politician that makes him far more Danish than many a Dane: his blonde wife, their summer home on the island of Seeland and the Danebrog, or Danish flag, fluttering at his door.
"But I also fight for my mother," the politician insists. She is a conservative Muslim who regularly visits the mosque and wears a headscarf -- right in the middle of Khader's modern Denmark.
"Integration is a life-long process," he says, "and I am still in the middle of it."
Pertinent Links:
1) Muslim Politician Is Messenger of Change
By Manfred Ertel
In Denmark of all places -- the country with Europe's toughest immigration laws -- a Muslim member of parliament has become a rising star on the political scene. Now he wants to shake up traditional Danish politics with his new party.
Is this the kind of man Danish voters are pinning their hopes on? The sort of man who is causing an upheaval in the calcified political atmosphere between Århus and Copenhagen? He is casually dressed, and his black hair and bronze skin reveal his Arab roots. He also happens to be a Muslim.
Naser Khader, 43, sits in his makeshift office in Copenhagen's old town surrounded by boxes, laptops and loose cables. "It was so boring here, with absolutely nothing going on," he says. "I am very pleased that we have managed to get some movement into politics."
...
Khader and his story personify the most hotly debated question in Denmark today: How many foreigners should be allowed into the country, and how many immigrants and refugees can the Danish welfare system bear? No more than are already there, argues the xenophobic Danish People's Party (DPP), and especially not any Muslims. As far as the DPP is concerned, Muslims are nothing but forms of "cancer" whose goal in life is to murder the "real Danes."
The populist right-wing party managed to get Europe's toughest immigration laws on the books because Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen and his center-right minority government needed its support. Even the Council of Europe has criticized Denmark for promoting "an atmosphere of intolerance and xenophobia."
Khader wants to fight the right-wing populists. He also wants to secure more power for himself, as a member of a new center-right government. The country's immigration policy must change, he says: "Our borders must be open." But, he adds, "our social security funds should be closed."
The parliamentarian is currently riding a wave of sympathy. His offices are literally teeming with young volunteers, who see Khader as a kind of pop star. As Redington has discovered, the newcomer derives much of his support from more well-educated and higher-earning voters, who are tired of high taxes and Denmark's poor reputation. "For them," says Redington, "he is the message of change."
Khader doesn't see his role as being quite so revolutionary. "We are not a protest party, but a people's party," he says. "We are the first party of the new center." When asked if he sees himself as an Arab Dane, Khader, who holds a Master's degree in political science, responds: "I have faith, but I'm not religious. And I am a fanatical democrat." And yet there is much about the politician that makes him far more Danish than many a Dane: his blonde wife, their summer home on the island of Seeland and the Danebrog, or Danish flag, fluttering at his door.
"But I also fight for my mother," the politician insists. She is a conservative Muslim who regularly visits the mosque and wears a headscarf -- right in the middle of Khader's modern Denmark.
"Integration is a life-long process," he says, "and I am still in the middle of it."
Pertinent Links:
1) Muslim Politician Is Messenger of Change
Thursday, May 24, 2007
DAR AL HARB - U.S.A. - VIRGINIA: THE U.S. CONSTITUTION, U.S. COURTS, ISLAMIC FIQH & WHAT AMERICAN STUDENTS ARE TAUGHT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND
Raising Awareness of Islamic Fiqh in the US
by Maha Akeel, Arab News
JEDDAH, 25 May 2007 — Family problems such as divorce and domestic violence are difficult to face in predominantly Muslim countries let alone in the West. Many Muslim men and women in the US are confused or ignorant about their rights in Islam and fail to incorporate them or follow them in resolving their problems. Add to that the negative stereotypes about Islam regarding women and human rights, especially after Sept. 11, and the conundrum of American Muslims becomes obvious.
“Muslim women face many problems regarding family issues such as abuse,” said Azizah Al-Hibri, professor of law at the University of Richmond. Al-Hibri in 1993 founded “Karamah,” a Muslim women lawyers’ human rights group that aims to give voice to Muslim women — who are generally perceived to be oppressed — and defend Islam by explaining its true tenets.
“Our main activity is educational. There is ignorance about Islam and confusion between traditions and religious rulings among Muslims themselves, who bring these convictions with them from their original countries,” Al-Hibri told journalists at the US Consulate here on Wednesday. She is in Saudi Arabia meeting women and talking about NGOs in the US and about Karamah.
Karamah, which means dignity, is a charitable and educational organization that focuses on the domestic and global issues of human rights for Muslims. It is committed to research, education and advocacy work in matters pertaining to Muslim women and human rights in Islam, as well as civil rights and other related rights under the US constitution. Karamah has expanded its activities to Europe as well and has also established the Network of Muslim Jurists to discuss issues pertaining to Islamic jurisprudence among Muslim scholars.
“We cooperate with judges, lawyers, civil societies and university professors. We also serve as expert witnesses in cases concerning divorce of a Muslim couple, for example because the judge wants to know more about mahr (dowry) in Islam,” said Al-Hibri.
She added that after 9/11, cases of domestic violence among Muslims increased perhaps due to the pressures they are under. With regard to this, Karamah is creating awareness about Islam’s stand on abuse and giving sensitivity training to social workers, police and lawyers. It is also helping abused women get help. Karamah also tries to help reach agreements in divorces or problems of mixed marriages between Muslims and non-Muslims.
Karamah considered establishing Islamic courts in the 1990s to act as arbitration courts but decided against that. “I think that there aren’t enough qualified personnel to work in them. It is too early for this idea,” she said.
Al-Hibri, who teaches Islamic fiqh (jurisprudence) on financial and family matters in Richmond, is currently completing a book on the Islamic marriage contract in American courts. She has traveled extensively in the Muslim world in support of Muslim women’s rights and has acted as consultant to the Supreme Council for Family Affairs in Qatar in the development of that country’s personal status code.
“I think that Islamic fiqh is deeper and better than Western codes of law. I don’t prefer that the state codifies Islamic law because it would depend on and enforce one school of Islamic teachings. I think it is better to allow for the diversity of Islamic teachings,” she said.
Pertinent Links:
1) Raising Awareness of Islamic Fiqh in the US
by Maha Akeel, Arab News
JEDDAH, 25 May 2007 — Family problems such as divorce and domestic violence are difficult to face in predominantly Muslim countries let alone in the West. Many Muslim men and women in the US are confused or ignorant about their rights in Islam and fail to incorporate them or follow them in resolving their problems. Add to that the negative stereotypes about Islam regarding women and human rights, especially after Sept. 11, and the conundrum of American Muslims becomes obvious.
“Muslim women face many problems regarding family issues such as abuse,” said Azizah Al-Hibri, professor of law at the University of Richmond. Al-Hibri in 1993 founded “Karamah,” a Muslim women lawyers’ human rights group that aims to give voice to Muslim women — who are generally perceived to be oppressed — and defend Islam by explaining its true tenets.
“Our main activity is educational. There is ignorance about Islam and confusion between traditions and religious rulings among Muslims themselves, who bring these convictions with them from their original countries,” Al-Hibri told journalists at the US Consulate here on Wednesday. She is in Saudi Arabia meeting women and talking about NGOs in the US and about Karamah.
Karamah, which means dignity, is a charitable and educational organization that focuses on the domestic and global issues of human rights for Muslims. It is committed to research, education and advocacy work in matters pertaining to Muslim women and human rights in Islam, as well as civil rights and other related rights under the US constitution. Karamah has expanded its activities to Europe as well and has also established the Network of Muslim Jurists to discuss issues pertaining to Islamic jurisprudence among Muslim scholars.
“We cooperate with judges, lawyers, civil societies and university professors. We also serve as expert witnesses in cases concerning divorce of a Muslim couple, for example because the judge wants to know more about mahr (dowry) in Islam,” said Al-Hibri.
She added that after 9/11, cases of domestic violence among Muslims increased perhaps due to the pressures they are under. With regard to this, Karamah is creating awareness about Islam’s stand on abuse and giving sensitivity training to social workers, police and lawyers. It is also helping abused women get help. Karamah also tries to help reach agreements in divorces or problems of mixed marriages between Muslims and non-Muslims.
Karamah considered establishing Islamic courts in the 1990s to act as arbitration courts but decided against that. “I think that there aren’t enough qualified personnel to work in them. It is too early for this idea,” she said.
Al-Hibri, who teaches Islamic fiqh (jurisprudence) on financial and family matters in Richmond, is currently completing a book on the Islamic marriage contract in American courts. She has traveled extensively in the Muslim world in support of Muslim women’s rights and has acted as consultant to the Supreme Council for Family Affairs in Qatar in the development of that country’s personal status code.
“I think that Islamic fiqh is deeper and better than Western codes of law. I don’t prefer that the state codifies Islamic law because it would depend on and enforce one school of Islamic teachings. I think it is better to allow for the diversity of Islamic teachings,” she said.
Pertinent Links:
1) Raising Awareness of Islamic Fiqh in the US
Sunday, May 20, 2007
DAR AL HARB - DENMARK: THE "LITTLE MERMAID" FOUND DRAPED IN A "HEAD TO TOE BAG"
Denmark's Little Mermaid statue draped in Muslim dress and veil
The Little Mermaid statue in Denmark's capital was found draped in Muslim dress and a head scarf Sunday morning, police said.
After receiving a telephone call, officers drove to the site and removed the garments, said Copenhagen police spokesman Jorgen Thomsen.
The Little Mermaid was created by Danish sculptor Edvard Eriksen in tribute to Danish storyteller Hans Christian Andersen. Sitting on a rock at the entrance of Copenhagen harbor since 1913, she draws an estimated 1 million visitors a year, and is occasionally targeted by vandals.
She has been beheaded and doused in paint several times. Four years ago, the statue was blown off its perch by vandals who used explosives.
In 2004, someone put a burqa, the head-to-toe Islamic robe, on the statue along with a sign saying "Turkey in the EU?" in reference to Turkey's bid to join the European Union.
Pertinent Links:
1) Denmark's Little Mermaid statue draped in Muslim dress and veil
The Little Mermaid statue in Denmark's capital was found draped in Muslim dress and a head scarf Sunday morning, police said.
After receiving a telephone call, officers drove to the site and removed the garments, said Copenhagen police spokesman Jorgen Thomsen.
The Little Mermaid was created by Danish sculptor Edvard Eriksen in tribute to Danish storyteller Hans Christian Andersen. Sitting on a rock at the entrance of Copenhagen harbor since 1913, she draws an estimated 1 million visitors a year, and is occasionally targeted by vandals.
She has been beheaded and doused in paint several times. Four years ago, the statue was blown off its perch by vandals who used explosives.
In 2004, someone put a burqa, the head-to-toe Islamic robe, on the statue along with a sign saying "Turkey in the EU?" in reference to Turkey's bid to join the European Union.
Pertinent Links:
1) Denmark's Little Mermaid statue draped in Muslim dress and veil
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
DAR AL HARB - DENMARK: JIHAD VIA "HEAD TO TOE BAG" & DEMOCRATIC ELECTIONS
Feminist, socialist, devout Muslim: woman who has thrown Denmark into turmoil
Parliamentary candidate, 25, finds herself at centre of Europe-wide controversy
by Ian Traynor in Odense, Denmark
In the land that launched the cartoons war between Islam and the west, Asmaa Abdol-Hamid finds herself on the frontline, gearing up for a new battle.
The 25-year-old social worker, student and town councillor describes herself as a feminist, a democrat, and a socialist. She has gay friends, opposes the death penalty, supports abortion rights, and could not care less what goes on in other people's bedrooms. In short, a tolerant Scandinavian and European.
She is also a Palestinian and a devout Muslim who insists on wearing a headscarf, who refuses, on religious grounds, to shake hands with males, and who is bidding fair to be the first Muslim woman ever to enter the Folketing, the Danish parliament in Copenhagen.
For the extreme right, the young activist is a political provocateur, an agent of Islamic fundamentalism bent on infiltrating the seat of Danish democracy. To many on the left, Ms Abdol-Hamid is also problematic, personifying through her dress the reactionary repression of women and an illiberal religious agenda that should have no place in her leftwing "red-green" alliance of socialists and environmentalists.
As a result of announcing her parliamentary candidacy earlier this month, the young Muslim and Danish citizen has been thrust to the centre of a debate tormenting Denmark and the rest of western Europe - on the place and values of Islam in modern Europe and the treatment of large Muslim minorities.
Ms Abdol-Hamid is unfazed. "I see more Islam here in Denmark than in Iran or in other places in the Middle East," she says. "It's easier to be a Muslim in Denmark than in Saudi Arabia. I don't feel a stranger here. I'm interested in politics. I want to talk about this society, about political issues. But I'm not in politics because I'm a Muslim."
Her ambition, combined with her insistence on flaunting her religious affiliation, have outraged the Danish political establishment and triggered a new bout of soul-searching almost two years after the publication of cartoons of the Prophet ignited violence and protest across the Islamic world.
"This goes far beyond the extreme right," says Toger Seidenfaden, editor of the Politiken daily newspaper. "Asmaa is insisting on the right to be a religious Muslim and that's provoking broad debate among the public."
The key issue is the headscarf and whether it can be accommodated in parliament. This month Ms Abdol-Hamid gained the candidacy for a safe Copenhagen seat for the leftwing Unity List.
The Danish People's Party or DFP, the far-right movement that unofficially props up the weak centre-right government of the prime minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, is on the warpath. A couple of DFP politicians compared the headscarf to the Nazi swastika. One described the prospective MP as "brainwashed".
"We don't like the idea of her performing as an Islamist in the parliament," says DFP spokesman Kim Eskildsen. "We find it wrong that she'll use the parliament as a tool for Islamism ... We don't consider this woman a Nazi. But the way the headscarf is used is comparable to other totalitarian symbols."
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Feminist, socialist, devout Muslim: woman who has thrown Denmark into turmoil
Parliamentary candidate, 25, finds herself at centre of Europe-wide controversy
by Ian Traynor in Odense, Denmark
In the land that launched the cartoons war between Islam and the west, Asmaa Abdol-Hamid finds herself on the frontline, gearing up for a new battle.
The 25-year-old social worker, student and town councillor describes herself as a feminist, a democrat, and a socialist. She has gay friends, opposes the death penalty, supports abortion rights, and could not care less what goes on in other people's bedrooms. In short, a tolerant Scandinavian and European.
She is also a Palestinian and a devout Muslim who insists on wearing a headscarf, who refuses, on religious grounds, to shake hands with males, and who is bidding fair to be the first Muslim woman ever to enter the Folketing, the Danish parliament in Copenhagen.
For the extreme right, the young activist is a political provocateur, an agent of Islamic fundamentalism bent on infiltrating the seat of Danish democracy. To many on the left, Ms Abdol-Hamid is also problematic, personifying through her dress the reactionary repression of women and an illiberal religious agenda that should have no place in her leftwing "red-green" alliance of socialists and environmentalists.
As a result of announcing her parliamentary candidacy earlier this month, the young Muslim and Danish citizen has been thrust to the centre of a debate tormenting Denmark and the rest of western Europe - on the place and values of Islam in modern Europe and the treatment of large Muslim minorities.
Ms Abdol-Hamid is unfazed. "I see more Islam here in Denmark than in Iran or in other places in the Middle East," she says. "It's easier to be a Muslim in Denmark than in Saudi Arabia. I don't feel a stranger here. I'm interested in politics. I want to talk about this society, about political issues. But I'm not in politics because I'm a Muslim."
Her ambition, combined with her insistence on flaunting her religious affiliation, have outraged the Danish political establishment and triggered a new bout of soul-searching almost two years after the publication of cartoons of the Prophet ignited violence and protest across the Islamic world.
"This goes far beyond the extreme right," says Toger Seidenfaden, editor of the Politiken daily newspaper. "Asmaa is insisting on the right to be a religious Muslim and that's provoking broad debate among the public."
The key issue is the headscarf and whether it can be accommodated in parliament. This month Ms Abdol-Hamid gained the candidacy for a safe Copenhagen seat for the leftwing Unity List.
The Danish People's Party or DFP, the far-right movement that unofficially props up the weak centre-right government of the prime minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, is on the warpath. A couple of DFP politicians compared the headscarf to the Nazi swastika. One described the prospective MP as "brainwashed".
"We don't like the idea of her performing as an Islamist in the parliament," says DFP spokesman Kim Eskildsen. "We find it wrong that she'll use the parliament as a tool for Islamism ... We don't consider this woman a Nazi. But the way the headscarf is used is comparable to other totalitarian symbols."
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Feminist, socialist, devout Muslim: woman who has thrown Denmark into turmoil
Saturday, April 28, 2007
DAR AL HARB - NETHERLANDS: "I WANT ANOTHER DENMARK", IN OTHER WORDS I WANT AN ISLAMIC DENMARK
Muslim woman runs for Danish parliament
By KARL RITTER
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) A Muslim woman denounced and ridiculed by nationalists for wearing an Islamic head scarf announced Friday she was running for Parliament - a move bound to rekindle heated debate about Islam in Denmark.
The next election is not expected until 2009, but the mere thought of Asama Abdol-Hamid entering the legislature has revived fears of clashing cultures that emerged last year when Danish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad sparked riots in Muslim countries.
Even mainstream politicians and party colleagues in the left-wing Red-Green Alliance have questioned whether Abdol-Hamid, who moved to Denmark at age 6 with her Palestinian family, shares the fundamental values of Danish society.
Besides covering her hair, the 25-year-old refuses to shake hands with men. Instead, she greets them by laying her right hand on her heart in Muslim tradition.
"I want another Denmark where we talk about the difference between groups," she said at a news conference announcing her candidacy. "When we talk about values, (we need) to be open to whatever people are, Muslim or non-Muslim."
Abdol-Hamid has repeatedly been questioned about her views on the death penalty, gender equality and gay rights - issues on which many Danes believe Islam conflicts with their values.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Muslim woman runs for Danish parliament
By KARL RITTER
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) A Muslim woman denounced and ridiculed by nationalists for wearing an Islamic head scarf announced Friday she was running for Parliament - a move bound to rekindle heated debate about Islam in Denmark.
The next election is not expected until 2009, but the mere thought of Asama Abdol-Hamid entering the legislature has revived fears of clashing cultures that emerged last year when Danish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad sparked riots in Muslim countries.
Even mainstream politicians and party colleagues in the left-wing Red-Green Alliance have questioned whether Abdol-Hamid, who moved to Denmark at age 6 with her Palestinian family, shares the fundamental values of Danish society.
Besides covering her hair, the 25-year-old refuses to shake hands with men. Instead, she greets them by laying her right hand on her heart in Muslim tradition.
"I want another Denmark where we talk about the difference between groups," she said at a news conference announcing her candidacy. "When we talk about values, (we need) to be open to whatever people are, Muslim or non-Muslim."
Abdol-Hamid has repeatedly been questioned about her views on the death penalty, gender equality and gay rights - issues on which many Danes believe Islam conflicts with their values.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Muslim woman runs for Danish parliament
Friday, March 02, 2007
DAR AL HARB - E.U. / GERMANY / DENMARK: RIOTS BREAK OUT IN COPENHAGEN AS WELL AS GERMANY
Youth riots rock Copenhagen, Hamburg and Hannover
At least 220 people were detained during Thursday night's riots in Copenhagen which also spilled over to two German cities, Hamburg and Hannover, media reports said Friday.
Danish protestors set several cars and garbage cans on fire and errected street barricades in Copenhagen after riot police and anti-terror units moved in to evict a popular youth center in the Danish capital.
At least five people were injured in the melee including a police officer.
The youth center was occupied by mainly radical leftist and anarchist teenagers in 1981 and has meanwhile been sold to a church.
Police had to use tear gas to disperse the rioting crowd who hurled stones, chairs and firecrakers at the security forces.
Copenhagen had already been last December the scene of intense street clashes between police and demonstrators over the issue of the youth center.
Meanwhile street protests in Hamburg and Hannover, voicing solidarity with the Copenhagen demonstrators, turned also violent.
In Hamburg, police prevented 800 protestors from moving towards the Danish consulate based in the north German port city.
At least 14 people were arrested following scuffles with security forces.
Demonstatrators lobbed bottles and stones at police, slightly injuring an officer.
In Hannover, some 20 masked protestors smashed the windows of a police car and private vehicle.
Several other peaceful demonstrations in support of the Danish youth center occupiers took place in German cities among them Braunschweig, Goettingen, Flensburg, Karlsruhe, Mainz und Frankfurt on the Main River.
and
Copenhagen on alert after riots
Denmark is counting the cost after a night of anarchy on the streets of Copenhagen. The violence erupted after police evicted left-wing squatters from a building used as a youth centre in a multi-ethnic, working class neighbourhood.
The unrest spread to the nearby hippy enclave of Christiania. In the hours that followed gangs of youths had running battles with police.
One officer and two protesters were injured. It is reported one protester blew off his hand while trying to throw a firework.
Almost two hundred people have been arrested since yesterday's eviction.
It brought to a head a conflict that has been simmering since 2000 when the local government sold the youth centre to a religious group. Left-wing activists have used it as a base since 1982.
Pertinent Links:
1) Youth riots rock Copenhagen, Hamburg and Hannover
2) Copenhagen on alert after riots
At least 220 people were detained during Thursday night's riots in Copenhagen which also spilled over to two German cities, Hamburg and Hannover, media reports said Friday.
Danish protestors set several cars and garbage cans on fire and errected street barricades in Copenhagen after riot police and anti-terror units moved in to evict a popular youth center in the Danish capital.
At least five people were injured in the melee including a police officer.
The youth center was occupied by mainly radical leftist and anarchist teenagers in 1981 and has meanwhile been sold to a church.
Police had to use tear gas to disperse the rioting crowd who hurled stones, chairs and firecrakers at the security forces.
Copenhagen had already been last December the scene of intense street clashes between police and demonstrators over the issue of the youth center.
Meanwhile street protests in Hamburg and Hannover, voicing solidarity with the Copenhagen demonstrators, turned also violent.
In Hamburg, police prevented 800 protestors from moving towards the Danish consulate based in the north German port city.
At least 14 people were arrested following scuffles with security forces.
Demonstatrators lobbed bottles and stones at police, slightly injuring an officer.
In Hannover, some 20 masked protestors smashed the windows of a police car and private vehicle.
Several other peaceful demonstrations in support of the Danish youth center occupiers took place in German cities among them Braunschweig, Goettingen, Flensburg, Karlsruhe, Mainz und Frankfurt on the Main River.
and
Copenhagen on alert after riots
Denmark is counting the cost after a night of anarchy on the streets of Copenhagen. The violence erupted after police evicted left-wing squatters from a building used as a youth centre in a multi-ethnic, working class neighbourhood.
The unrest spread to the nearby hippy enclave of Christiania. In the hours that followed gangs of youths had running battles with police.
One officer and two protesters were injured. It is reported one protester blew off his hand while trying to throw a firework.
Almost two hundred people have been arrested since yesterday's eviction.
It brought to a head a conflict that has been simmering since 2000 when the local government sold the youth centre to a religious group. Left-wing activists have used it as a base since 1982.
Pertinent Links:
1) Youth riots rock Copenhagen, Hamburg and Hannover
2) Copenhagen on alert after riots
Monday, January 29, 2007
DAR AL HARB - SWEDEN & DENMARK: DENMARK IS WORRIED THAT TOO MANY MOSLEM IMMIGRANTS WILL COME ACROSS THE ORESUND BRIDGE
Danish People's Party fears influx of Swedish immigrants
Commerce between Sweden and Denmark has been aided by the Öresund bridge. But the far-right Danish People's Party is concerned that improved communications may make it too easy for Sweden's relatively generous immigration laws to undermine Denmark's more restrictive policy.
The People's Party, currently the third largest in Denmark, is particularly worried about the flow of Iraqis to Sweden, Jyllands-Posten reports.
Sweden took in a total of 1,400 Iraqi citizens in November 2006, whereas just 62 made their way to Denmark in the same period.
The Danish People's Party fears that freedom of residence within the Nordic countries will make it too easy for immigrants with Swedish residency permits to establish themselves in Denmark.
Spokesman Søren Espersen has called for the Nordic agreement on freedom of residence to be repealed if problems develop.
But Social Democratic spokeswoman Lotte Bundsgaard and Liberal integration minister Rikke Hvilshøj found it difficult to understand the Espersen's reasoning.
"Why should large numbers of immigrants who are well integrated in Sweden move to Denmark? I agree with the minister that there are so many good things in Nordic co-operation which we do not want to throw out with the bath water.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Danish People's Party fears influx of Swedish immigrants
Commerce between Sweden and Denmark has been aided by the Öresund bridge. But the far-right Danish People's Party is concerned that improved communications may make it too easy for Sweden's relatively generous immigration laws to undermine Denmark's more restrictive policy.
The People's Party, currently the third largest in Denmark, is particularly worried about the flow of Iraqis to Sweden, Jyllands-Posten reports.
Sweden took in a total of 1,400 Iraqi citizens in November 2006, whereas just 62 made their way to Denmark in the same period.
The Danish People's Party fears that freedom of residence within the Nordic countries will make it too easy for immigrants with Swedish residency permits to establish themselves in Denmark.
Spokesman Søren Espersen has called for the Nordic agreement on freedom of residence to be repealed if problems develop.
But Social Democratic spokeswoman Lotte Bundsgaard and Liberal integration minister Rikke Hvilshøj found it difficult to understand the Espersen's reasoning.
"Why should large numbers of immigrants who are well integrated in Sweden move to Denmark? I agree with the minister that there are so many good things in Nordic co-operation which we do not want to throw out with the bath water.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Danish People's Party fears influx of Swedish immigrants
Thursday, January 25, 2007
DAR AL HARB - DENMARK: WESTERN & MOSLEMS 'RELATIONS' WERE NOT HARMED IRREPERABLY
Denmark says Islam-West relations not irreparably harmed by prophet cartoon crisis
SEAN YOONG, Associated Press Writer
January 25, 2007 12:33 AM
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - Ties between Muslim nations and the West suffered no long-term damage from the international uproar over cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad published in European countries last year, Denmark's foreign minister said Thursday.
The 12 drawings were first published in September 2005 in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten and were reprinted four months later by a range of Western publications, triggering massive protests from Morocco to Indonesia and some attacks on Danish embassies.
Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller, who is visiting Malaysia and Indonesia during a tour of Southeast Asia, said there were ''no problems'' lingering from the crisis, adding that Denmark wants healthy relations with Muslim nations.
''We must understand that the crisis is over, and all countries want it to be over,'' Moeller told a news conference. ''I think it would be wrong to create problems.''
The crisis, however, showed that nations must improve religious understanding, Moeller added.
''We have to respect the differences between our cultures and our religions,'' Moeller said. ''It's stupid to destroy the world because of something that you don't like in this culture or something that you don't like in that culture.''
Denmark wants to develop more economic and social links with Muslim-majority countries such as Malaysia, Moeller said, noting that he has also met with Arab representatives about improving cross-cultural relations.
...
Dhimmi kissing moslem butt is not a good thing to have to read about in the morning...
Pertinent Links:
1) Denmark says Islam-West relations not irreparably harmed by prophet cartoon crisis
SEAN YOONG, Associated Press Writer
January 25, 2007 12:33 AM
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - Ties between Muslim nations and the West suffered no long-term damage from the international uproar over cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad published in European countries last year, Denmark's foreign minister said Thursday.
The 12 drawings were first published in September 2005 in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten and were reprinted four months later by a range of Western publications, triggering massive protests from Morocco to Indonesia and some attacks on Danish embassies.
Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller, who is visiting Malaysia and Indonesia during a tour of Southeast Asia, said there were ''no problems'' lingering from the crisis, adding that Denmark wants healthy relations with Muslim nations.
''We must understand that the crisis is over, and all countries want it to be over,'' Moeller told a news conference. ''I think it would be wrong to create problems.''
The crisis, however, showed that nations must improve religious understanding, Moeller added.
''We have to respect the differences between our cultures and our religions,'' Moeller said. ''It's stupid to destroy the world because of something that you don't like in this culture or something that you don't like in that culture.''
Denmark wants to develop more economic and social links with Muslim-majority countries such as Malaysia, Moeller said, noting that he has also met with Arab representatives about improving cross-cultural relations.
...
Dhimmi kissing moslem butt is not a good thing to have to read about in the morning...
Pertinent Links:
1) Denmark says Islam-West relations not irreparably harmed by prophet cartoon crisis
Thursday, January 11, 2007
DAR AL HARB-E.U.-DENMARK: THERE IS NOT ENOUGH EVIDENCE TO CHARGE THE IMAMS AT THE ROOT OF THE CARTOON JIHAD
No legal case against Danish imams in Prophet cartoons ro
COPENHAGEN: Danish prosecutors have decided not to press charges against a group of imams accused of tarnishing Denmark’s image over the Prophet cartoons crisis, a prosecutor said yesterday.
Prosecutor Birgitte Vestberg rejected 110 complaints filed by members of the public against the religious leaders and other Danish Muslims who spoke out against the government during their tour of Egypt, Lebanon and Syria in December 2005.
Two delegations of Danish imams visited the countries to draw the attention of political and religious authorities to the Danish government’s silence over the publication of 12 satirical cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in Denmark’s biggest newspaper.
“We found no proof that the imams and other Muslims ... constituted a threat to Danish interests nor incited attacks against Denmark,” Vestberg said.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) No legal case against Danish imams in Prophet cartoons ro
COPENHAGEN: Danish prosecutors have decided not to press charges against a group of imams accused of tarnishing Denmark’s image over the Prophet cartoons crisis, a prosecutor said yesterday.
Prosecutor Birgitte Vestberg rejected 110 complaints filed by members of the public against the religious leaders and other Danish Muslims who spoke out against the government during their tour of Egypt, Lebanon and Syria in December 2005.
Two delegations of Danish imams visited the countries to draw the attention of political and religious authorities to the Danish government’s silence over the publication of 12 satirical cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in Denmark’s biggest newspaper.
“We found no proof that the imams and other Muslims ... constituted a threat to Danish interests nor incited attacks against Denmark,” Vestberg said.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) No legal case against Danish imams in Prophet cartoons ro
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
