The racist lawyer Rasmus Paludan has burned more Korans – this time outside the Dortheavej Mosque in the Copenhagen district of Nordvest, and also the Turkish Embassy in Østerbro, both on Friday 27 January.
On Saturday January 21, Paludan burned one outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm, prompting the Danish foreign minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, to fiercely condemn his actions.
Six days later, he was back in Copenhagen, the same city in which similar actions in Nørrebro resulted in full-scale riots and the arrest of 23 individuals in April 2019.
Every single time, Paludan has burned a Koran, or picked up a megaphone to spout his anti-Islamic rhetoric, he has had the protection of numerous police officers – all at great expense to the taxpayer.
“We condemn in the strongest possible terms what he did,” commented the Turkish Embassy, which described the actions as a “provocative action” and “hate crime”.
Reoffended in Denmark
As far as Turkey is concerned, the burnings are not the action of an individual but a failing of the country that permits them.
“This attitude on the part of Denmark is unacceptable,” commented the Turkish Embassy in Denmark. The Turkish government has accordingly summoned Danny Annan, the Danish ambassador to Turkey, to a meeting in Ankara to discuss Paludan’s actions.
Turkish President Recep Erdogan last week said Paludan’s actions in Sweden would harm the country’s bid to join NATO.
The media tends to refer to Paludan as a ‘Danish-Swedish’ national, but he is Danish-raised, and it was in Denmark that he trained and worked as a lawyer before becoming a full-time agitator in the build-up to the 2019 Danish General Election, where his party Stram Kurs failed to win any seats.
In 2021, Paludan was convicted of racism, but escaped serving time in prison.
