Denmark

Area: 43,098 sq km (16,640 sq mi)

Population (2006 est.): 5,435,000

Capital: Copenhagen

Chief of state: Queen Margrethe II

Head of government: Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen

In 2006 Denmark found itself hurled onto the frontline of the conflict between Western liberal values and the religious tenets of the Islamic world after the publication by the country's leading broadsheet, Denmark , whose call for consultations were roundly rejected by Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen on the grounds that freedom of the press and of expression were unassailable rights in Danish society. The matter came to a head when in January 2006 an Arab League meeting in Tunisia called on Denmark to punish the newspaper for printing "cartoons offensive to Islam," a move to which Rasmussen could not acquiesce. In February angry Muslim demonstrators attacked and sacked Danish embassies in Damascus , Beirut , and Tehran and staged major anticartoon protests that included the ritual burning of Danish flags across the Muslim world. Jyllands-Posten , of 12 satiric caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad sparked a wave of violent protest, diplomatic sanctions, and death threats. The cartoons, first published in September 2005, caused immediate affront to 11 Muslim ambassadors in

Denmark was compelled to close five diplomatic missions, and several Islamic ambassadors in Copenhagen were called home for consultations over the cartoon issue. The row escalated further when the offending caricatures were reprinted in newspapers in several other European countries. The Denmark and called upon Muslims to refrain from violence, urging dialogue to ward off what he described as a "global crisis" and a "clash of cultures." Jyllands-Posten eventually issued a formal apology, a move welcomed by the prime minister, who nonetheless staunchly reiterated his defense of the freedom of the press in

Danish exports to the Middle East were hit hard. The Confederation of Danish Industries estimated that exports to 25 Islamic countries plummeted by 15.5%, or 935 million kroner (about $160 million) in the February–June period, as a result of the Muhammad cartoon outrage.

At home, the leading author Klaus Rifbjerg and other intellectuals denounced the publication of the cartoons as a "childish and uncalled for provocation" and slammed Rasmussen 's centre-right Liberal Party administration and its ally, the far-right Danish People's Party (DPP), for conducting a "misanthropic and blatantly nationalistic" immigration policy. Denmark drew criticism from international bodies, notably the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance and the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, for breaches of humanitarian conventions, including the country's immigrant family reunification restrictions, its (often shabby) treatment of refugees and asylum seekers, and its disappointing efforts at integration. The xenophobic, racist tone of the debate in Denmark concerning foreigners in general and Muslim immigrants in particular also came under censure as the country, once considered a beacon of tolerance, wallowed in its identity crisis.

The Muhammad cartoon row resurfaced in the autumn when the state-owned Danish TV2 channel showed a video depicting DPP youths at a summer camp singing, dancing, and participating in a ribald competition to draw blasphemous images of the Prophet. The incident was denounced as an insult to Islam and sparked protests from the Muslim Brotherhood in Iran and Egypt . The ongoing Muhammad cartoon spat, coupled with the presence of some 530 Danish troops in Iraq and 290 soldiers under NATO command in southern Afghanistan , helped keep the terrorism threat on the agenda. Public fears were compounded by two major police raids, in Copenhagen and Odense , on suspected terrorist cells, which were found to be linked to international terrorist networks, in possession of explosives, and allegedly plotting attacks in Denmark and abroad.

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