One dead in shooting at Copenhagen free speech event

Published February 14, 2015
Policemen secure the area around a building in Copenhagen, Denmark, where shots were fired outside the venue of a debate held on art, blasphemy and free speech. -AFP Photo
Policemen secure the area around a building in Copenhagen, Denmark, where shots were fired outside the venue of a debate held on art, blasphemy and free speech. -AFP Photo
Photo showing people fleeing from the scene of the attack. -Twitter pic.
Photo showing people fleeing from the scene of the attack. -Twitter pic.

COPENHAGEN: Shots were fired on Saturday at a cafe in Copenhagen that was hosting a freedom of speech event organised by Swedish artist Lars Vilks, who has faced numerous threats for caricaturing the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in 2007. Danish police say a 40-year-old man was killed in the shooting.

Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt described the assault as “a terrorist attack” as Danish televion showed the windows of the Krudttonden cafe pock marked by multiple bullet holes.

Some 30 bullet holes ripped through the window of the cafe and at least two people were taken away on stretchers, including a uniformed police officer, the TV2 channel said.

Helle Merete Brix, one of the organisers of the event, told The Associated Press that Vilks was present at the event but not injured.

“I saw a masked man running past,” she said. "A couple of police officers were injured."

“I clearly consider this as an attack on Lars Vilks,” she added, saying she was ushered away with Vilks by one of the Danish police guards that he gets whenever he is in Denmark.

The cafe in northern Copenhagen, known for its jazz concerts, was hosting an event titled “Art, blasphemy and the freedom of expression” when the shots were fired.

Niels Ivar Larsen, one of the speakers at the event, told TV2 that at least two people were wounded.

Francois Zimeray, the French ambassador to Denmark, was at the conference and tweeted that he was “still alive. “

Vilks, a 68-year-old Swedish artist, has faced several attempted attacks and death threats after he depicted the Prophet (PBUH).

A Pennsylvania woman last year got a 10-year prison term for a plot to kill Vilks. In 2010 two brothers tried to burn down his house in southern Sweden and were imprisoned for attempted arson.

After militants attacked the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine in Paris last month, killing 12 people, Vilks told the AP that even fewer organizations were inviting him to give lectures over increased security concerns.

Vilks also said he thought Sweden's SAPO security service, which deploys bodyguards to protect him, would step up the security around him.

“This will create fear among people on a whole different level than we're used to,” he said.

“Charlie Hebdo was a small oasis. Not many dared do what they did."

The attack comes over a month after the Paris attack on the offices of Charlie Hebdo, regarded as the worst terrorist rampage in France in decades.

Copenhagen police said early Sunday they had shot a man dead hours after fatal gun attacks targeting the Danish capital's main synagogue and a debate on Islam and free speech.

Police are investigating whether the man was behind the shootings.

A civilian was killed when the gunman sprayed bullets at the cultural centre, while a young Jewish man was gunned down outside the synagogue in central Copenhagen early Sunday.

Early Sunday, police said they had shot and killed a man after he fired at officers in the inner-city neighbourhood of Noerrebro, where police had been keeping an address under observation.

“The police are now investigating if the person could be behind the shootings at Krudttoenden and the synagogue in Krystalgade,” police said in a statement.

Police said they did not yet have enough information to confirm whether the two gun attacks, which come just weeks after a series of bloody Islamist attacks in Paris that left 17 people dead, were connected.

Five police officers were wounded in the two attacks.

A massive police manhunt was launched after the gunman fled the scene following both shootings.

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