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Danish News Round-Up: MP racially abused as he left Parliament following its reopening

Ben Hamilton
October 7th, 2021


This article is more than 3 years old.

Elsewhere, corona numbers and deer incidents on the roads are both increasing as the days get shorter

The MP and his parents are abused by the man in the umbrella (aptly on the far right), who is wearing a t-shirt with “Fuck Islam” written on it (photos: screenshot)

MP Sikandar Siddique, the leader of the Frie Grønne party, was subjected to racism as he left Parliament on the day of its reopening on Tuesday with his parents.

He shared a link of the abuse on his Facebook page.

Later he wrote: “Today, my old parents paid too high a price for me to be active in politics. I cannot bear at all that they should experience this. My family has long been worried about me, but I never tell them when I get overwhelmed because I try to shield them so they don’t get nervous about me. But today I could not screen them.”

Mother was shaking
Among the shouts Siddique and his parents were subjected to were “Pack your shit and go home”, “Go with you and take your parents,” and “You do not belong here.”

Siddique revealed that his mother was “scared and shaking” and his 82-year-old father “extremely confused”.

He concluded: “If these people think they can stop me, they are wrong. I will not stop my fight for a diverse Denmark. I need to say from the bottom of my heart that there must be no room for that kind of behavior in a modern democracy. We all MUST stand together against the racism that drives people to behave so horribly towards other people.

The man who shouted abuse as they passed

 

PM outraged
PM Mette Frederiksen is outraged that such abuse could take place in Denmark, and all places within Parliament itself, she wrote on Facebook.

“A racist attack on a family is an attack on all minorities. It does not belong in Denmark,” she wrote. 

“And an attack on a democratically elected politician is an attack on democracy itself. It therefore does not belong in Denmark either.”

Leader of party
Siddique was elected as a member of the Alternativet party at the 2019 General Election, but then left the party in 2020 to form Frie Grønne.

Other key members of Frie Grønne are MPs Uffe Elbæk and Susanne Zimmer, and Copenhagen councillor Niko Grünfeld.


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