Up until August 10, additional security measures will be implemented to counter “specific and current threats.”
Following a recent Quran-burning protest in the EU nation, Denmark temporarily increased border security, according to a statement from its justice ministry on Thursday.
The statement read, “Authorities have today concluded that it is necessary at this time to increase the focus on who is entering Denmark, in order to respond to the specific and current threats,” and it added that the increased border security measures would be in place until August 10.
Sweden took a similar choice earlier this week in response to repeated threats to set Jewish and Muslim holy books on fire in Stockholm.
Muslims around the world have expressed outrage at the occurrences involving the possible desecration of the Quran by activists in both Sweden and Denmark, leading to calls for the governments of both nations to enact laws outlawing the behaviour.
The “deeply offensive and reckless acts” do not reflect the “values the Danish society is built on,” according to last week’s statement from Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen.
Nevertheless, he issued a warning, stating that any actions taken to put an end to future protests “must of course be done within the framework of the constitutionally protected freedom of expression and in a manner that does not change the fact that freedom of expression in Denmark has very broad scope.”
As both nations attempt to strike a compromise between concerns from religious groups and constitutionally protected rights to freedom of speech, Stockholm has adopted a position on the burning of sacred texts that is similar to Copenhagen’s. Ulf Kristersson, the prime minister of Sweden, remarked on Tuesday that “everything that is legal is not appropriate.” It may be legal, but it’s still bad.
Kristersson continued by saying that Sweden’s decision to enact tighter border controls was made to stop “people with very weak connections to Sweden” from entering the nation in order to “commit crimes or to act in conflict with Swedish security interests.”
Several Muslim-majority nations, including Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and Iran, have officially complained to both Scandinavian nations over threats to burn the Quran. In response to the burnings, the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) authorised the adoption of a resolution in July that addresses religious prejudice and hatred.
