Friday, February 15, 2008

Juveniles from immigrant families, and a master stroke of understatement from Denmark




Danish authorities are blaming juveniles from immigrant families for burning down a school in a suburb of Copenhagen as well as for a rash of car and trash receptacle burnings in several Danish cities, media reported Feb. 15. A government spokesman said some of the violence is believed to be connected to the reprinting of a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed in leading Danish newspapers.

The papers said they republished the controversial cartoon after a plot to kill the artist, Kurt Westergaard, was uncovered.
I wonder if this govt spokesman was at all embarrassed to be uttering these words.
I wonder if we can ever give Westergaard, and the editors and publishers of these newspapers the kind of kudos they really deserve for upholding the things we hold dear over here.

6 comments:

Esther said...

the reason only some of the violence is connected to the Mohammed cartoons, is because the riots started a few days before the reprinting.

Pastorius said...

Yes, that makes sense, Esther.

However, where does the beginning of the riots fall in the timeline of the revelation of the arrests of the Muslim men who were plotting to kill Westergaard?

Esther said...

The torchings started in Nørrebro Feb. 9th, put down to frustration with police searches and boredom. After the terror arrests (Feb. 12th), they spread out to other places in Denmark.

Pastorius said...

Thanks.

Do you think there is any possibility of an organized coordination of these riots? Or, do you think this is youthful energy inflamed by Islam?

Esther said...

The police don't think so. They think there's a copycat effect, helped by the attention this is getting from the media.

Pastorius said...

Thanks, Esther.