One year after a Danish-born gunman killed a filmmaker and a Jewish security guard in twin attacks in Copenhagen, the country was yesterday scheduled to honor the victims amid tight security.
On Feb. 14 last year, Omar Abdel Hamid el-Hussein, a 22-year-old Dane of Palestinian origin, opened fire with an automatic weapon on a cultural center where Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks — reviled by Muslim extremists for portraying the Prophet Mohammed as a dog in 2007 — was among those attending a conference on “art, blasphemy and freedom.”
Danish filmmaker Finn Norgaard, 55, was killed and three policemen were wounded. After managing to escape, the assailant shot a 37-year-old Jewish security guard, Dan Uzan, in front of a synagogue, also wounding two police officers.
El-Hussein, seemingly inspired by the attacks on French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, was killed a few hours later in a shootout with police in the immigrant-heavy Norrebro District.
Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen was yesterday due to leave flowers outside the cultural center and the city’s main synagogue.
He is then to attend an event inside parliament organized by the Finn Norgaard Association, a charity set up to support children and young people.
Later in the day, Uzan and Norgaard were to be commemorated with a chain of 1,800 candles lit on a 3.6km route between the two locations of the attack.
Amid a massive police presence, artist Vilks returned to Copenhagen on Saturday for another event on freedom of expression, this time held inside parliament for security reasons.
“It’s a shame that you can’t be anywhere else. We have to be in a ‘fortress,’” he told reporters.
El-Hussein — who was released from prison weeks before the attacks after serving time for a stabbing — on Facebook pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group on the day of the attack.
Danish intelligence agency PET has been criticized for failing to act on information from prison services that he was at risk of radicalization, and former classmates have claimed they tried to warn the police as far back as 2012.
Four men held after the attacks have been charged with helping el-Hussein and are to appear in court next month.
French ambassador Francois Zimeray, who had been a speaker at the free speech event that was attacked, said he had seen “a growing awareness” in Denmark “that we have entered a different world where nobody, nowhere, is completely safe from terrorism.”
Over the past year, Denmark’s already tough tone on Muslim immigration has become even tougher, partly as a result of the attacks but also due to Europe’s refugee crisis.
Denmark registered 21,000 asylum applications last year, making it one of the top European recipients of refugees in relation to its size.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
A documentary whose main subject, 25-year-old photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza weeks before it premiered at Cannes stunned viewers into silence at the festival on Thursday. As the cinema lights came back on, filmmaker Sepideh Farsi held up an image of the young Palestinian woman killed with younger siblings on April 16, and encouraged the audience to stand up and clap to pay tribute. “To kill a child, to kill a photographer is unacceptable,” Farsi said. “There are still children to save. It must be done fast,” the exiled Iranian filmmaker added. With Israel
Africa has established the continent’s first space agency to boost Earth observation and data sharing at a time when a more hostile global context is limiting the availability of climate and weather information. The African Space Agency opened its doors last month under the umbrella of the African Union and is headquartered in Cairo. The new organization, which is still being set up and hiring people in key positions, is to coordinate existing national space programs. It aims to improve the continent’s space infrastructure by launching satellites, setting up weather stations and making sure data can be shared across
RSS