Copenhagen, MINA – Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen hopes that the government’s proposal to limit the burning of the Qur’an will help defuse the growing international conflict with several Muslim countries.
“The fact that we are signaling both in Denmark and abroad that we are working on it will hopefully help reduce the problems we are having,” Rasmussen told reporters, after a meeting with parliamentary foreign policy speakers, as quoted by the Middle East Monitor on Tuesday.
Several weeks ago, there were demonstrations in Denmark and Sweden involving burning and destroying copies of the Qur’an, causing outrage among Muslim countries.
The Danish government said it would seek “legal tools” that would allow authorities to intervene in such protests, if they were deemed to have “significant negative consequences for Denmark, not least in terms of security.”
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“It’s not that we feel pressured to do it, but that our political analysis is in the best interests of all of us,” Rasmussen said, adding: “We shouldn’t just sit around and wait for this to blow up.”
While the Swedish government said it was studying a similar solution this month, far-right parties in both countries have criticized the initiative, with some saying freedom of speech cannot be compromised.
Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said he had sent letters to 57 countries in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) explaining Sweden’s right to assemble and condemning Islamophobic acts. (T/RE1)
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
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