A shooting in Denmark may be an assassination attempt on artist Lars Vilks. Apparently shots were fired at a Copenhagen cafe during a free speech meeting; three people were shot in another city (an incident which may or may not be related to the first). I hope they catch the shooter - he ran away on foot.
Sometimes it feels like everything’s gone insane, doesn’t it? I suppose these types of things have always happened occasionally, but the Internet publicizes it and makes it seem more frequent. Still . . .
Correction: both shootings were in Copenhagen. The free speech meeting was related to Charlie Hebdo and debating how one should be allowed to depict Mohammed, which is drawing comparisons between the shootings.
The first shooting happened at an event in Østerbro labelled “Art, Blasphemy And Freedom Of Expression,” featuring - among others - a Swedish cartoonist who, some years ago, did a Muhammed cartoon, plus a local representative of Femen, etc. The event was, strictly speaking, unrelated to Charlie Hedbo, though the French ambassador to Denmark did attend. That left one person dead - most likely a random passer-by - plus three policemen wounded.
The second shooting happened at the synagogue at Krystalgade later that night, most likely at either a bar mitzvah or a bat mitzvah. This left one (Jewish) guard dead, plus two policemen wounded.
Early this morning, the suspected gunman was cornered in an apartment close to Nørrebro Station, and shot to death by police.
I live here. I’ve been to concerts and plays at the Østerbro venue; I used to live across the street from that synagogue; and I’ve taken the bus or train from Nørrebro Station more times than I can count. So it’s scary, but at least it seems like it’s over, at least for now.
Having been in Copenhagen last December, this is dreadful. It was one of the safest (I thought) cities I had visited. More chance of being run over by a cycle than getting mugged or anything.
Anyway Steken I am glad that you and others close to you are okay and hopefully this is an aberration.
(Not to mention I have noted your name to look you up for a beer next visit!)
The city is generally pretty safe. Some gang violence, but that’s mostly criminal-on-criminal. Having said that, we’ve been expecting Islamist terror for a while now: Denmark joined the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan and Iraq, and then there were the Muhammed cartoons and all the fallout from that. If anything, I had expected something much, much earlier - not to mention far, far worse…
The important question is: How long does Fox News have to wait before they can complain that Obama hasn’t marched out to the nearest podium and shouted “TERRORISM!” yet?
I dont think thats the important question at all. I think this is a serious issue that will be cause increasing tension in Europe in the future, and its not really about Fox news or even Obama.
Pretty crazy scenes at the place of the shooter’s death, not far from where I live.
First, people left flowers. Not to the shooter’s victims, mind you, but to the shooter himself. Haven’t heard of anything quite that blatant happening in, say, Paris or Sydney or Belgium…
And then, as if that wasn’t cray cray enough, young Muslim men showed up and removed all the flowers, candles, etc., calling the practice (of putting such items at the place of a person’s death) “un-Islamic.” After a prayer, they left two notes - one saying, in Danish and Arabic, “may Allah have mercy on you, rest in peace”; the other complaining over how “while the Jewish victim’s body was quickly covered with a white blanket, the Muslim supposed shooter’s body remained bloody and uncovered on the street, for all to see,” etc.
It seems either the streets are normally teeming with police, or there was official concern that these specific events might be attacked and extra police were assigned to them.
The latter: Official concern. Lars Vilks - the Swedish cartoonist - has lived under 24-hour police protection for several years, and with good reason too. His Swedish bodyguards were there, along with plenty of Danish policemen. They returned fire, possibly preventing the shooter from entering the café and causing further bloodshed.
