7th night of violence in Denmark

PM Anders Fogh Rasmussen speaks out for the first time.

Angry yutes and their worthless parents in largely immigrant neighborhoods at fault not Danish society. Freedom of speech includes cartoonists, anger over a drawing doesn't give one a right to burn cars, or schools or other institutions. Get 'em, Anders.

Angry youths who have been setting fires in immigrant neighborhoods across Denmark for seven consecutive nights should expect no sympathy from society, Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Sunday.

"I think it will be the opposite, that a lot of people will turn their backs on them," the prime minister said in interview with Denmark's TV2 news channel. It was the first time he had commented publicly on the weeklong youth violence that has kept police and firefighters busy in cities across Denmark.

Fogh Rasmussen rejected any notion that society was to blame for the unrest.

"We must make clear that the youths are responsible for this — and their parents," he said.

Thirteen people were arrested late Saturday and early Sunday on suspicion of vandalizing and torching schools, cars and garbage containers. The unrest — largely in immigrant neighborhoods — started in Copenhagen and spread to other cities last week.


Some community leaders said the situation may have escalated after Danish newspapers reprinted the Muhammad cartoon in a protest for free speech following the arrest of three men accused of plotting to kill the man who drew it.

Fogh Rasmussen noted that Denmark's freedom of speech includes cartoonists, and that anger over a drawing did not give anyone "the right to burn others' cars or to burn down schools or institutions."

The cartoon and 11 other drawings of the prophet sparked massive protests in Muslim countries two years ago after they were originally printed in Danish and western newspapers.

In a statement Sunday, the Mecca-based Muslim World League urged Muslims, Islamic organizations and centers in Denmark to maintain calm following the reprinting.

"Muslims should not get caught in a whirlwind of emotional reactions," it said.

The organization, founded by the Saudi Arabian government and comprising Sunni religious figures from at least 22 countries, also called on responsible parties in Denmark to take the necessary measures to stop what they described as the offense against the prophet.