Stine Holm and Signe Marquard Rønn, two volunteers at an asylum centre in Thisted in Northern Jutland, have received death threats over Facebook after pictures of them taking down anti-Islam signs were shared on the right-wing Facebook page ‘Yes to Freedom, no to Islam.”
Racist and embarrassing
Over the weekend, the women took down three signs that had been hung close to an asylum centre in Thisted and posted about it on their Facebook profiles.
The signs were printed with the names of Syrian and Iraqi towns and pointed in the direction of the refugee centre. The women decided to take them down, describing them as ‘racist’.
“We decided to go and take them down because we think they are embarrassing,” said Stine Holm.
Ugly turn
However things took an ugly turn on Monday when their private pictures were shared on the Danish group ‘Yes to Freedom, no to Islam’.
“On Monday, a friend wrote to me and said that there were private pictures of my daughter being shared on the group ‘Yes to freedom, no to Islam’. These were adults who were commenting and calling her a lemur and a crossbreed. They even threatened beheading. There were calls to save the image [so we could be identified] and shaved bald,” DR quoted Holm as saying.
She also stated that she had received two anonymous text messages saying people were ‘keeping an eye on her’.
Police can’t do much
Though the women have since reported the incident to police, they fear little can be done.
“This kind of language is what one often sees on social media and it’s hard to do anything about it,” the police allegedly wrote to them.
The women believe members of the right-wing political party Danskernes Parti are behind the signs.
“We think that it is members of Danskernes Parti because they have used the pictures for their campaign and have offered to pay the fine for anyone convicted of hanging the signs up,” said Holm.
Central and West Jutland Police have confirmed they’re looking into the matter.
“We received a review and are currently investigating the matter,” said communications consultant Jeannette Bylov.
