Riots break out in Copenhagen after campaigner tosses Quran

A Danish politician was attacked when he demonstrated on Indre Nørrebro in Copenhagen. The Islam critic was attacked and escorted away, and a person was arrested, but the turmoil in the area continued. Police patrolled the area near Blågårds Plads with their weapons drawn.

Anti-Islam campaigner Rasmus Paludan tossed a Quran into the air several times before being escorted away from the area by police for his own safety. Paludan, a lawyer, was banned from protesting in Copenhagen for the rest of the day, but he launched a new protest on Tuesday evening in a neighbouring police district.

The protest had not originally been planned for Copenhagen’s Nørrebro district but was moved after a car exploded in the intended location, Mjølnerparken.

Some 23 rioters were arrested on Sunday afternoon, including one rioters who attempted to assault Paludan, reported Danish newspaper Politiken.

As the evening progressed, a burning barricade was erected while rocks and fireworks were thrown at police, according to reports in Danish media.

Paludan is the founder and leader of the Stram Kurs party. Danish state media, the Danish Broadcasting Corporation, reported throughout the afternoon on the civil unrest, stating that in the two hours running up to midnight the fire brigade responded to 20 fires, with shops and cars torched.

The Red-Green Alliance blamed Paludan for the violence, instead of the rioters. “Rasmus Paludan has no other goal than to sow dissent and create hatred.” They said in a statement that “his generalisations do not hold in reality and can be overcome with words”.

Paludan said his Quran protest was against the 2015 Islamist Copenhagen terror attack when jihadist Omar El-Hussein went on a two-day shooting rampage killing Danish filmmaker Finn Noergaard at close range. The intended target had been Swedish artist Lars Vilks, who drew a cartoon of Mohammed in 2007.

The four accomplices to the gunman, including 31-year-old Mahmoud Rabea insulted the judge during their trial, calling him a “Nazi whore”, inviting him to suck his “circumcised cock”.

According to Ekstra Bladet, some 300 police officers in riot gear protected Paludan, whisking him away in a police car when the riot turned violent.