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| Europe |
| Danish Nat'l Library to house Mohammed cartoons for posterity |
| 2008-01-30 |
| Denmark's national library is to risk re-opening an international political storm by housing the cartoon images of the prophet Muhammad that provoked violent convulsions throughout the Islamic world two years ago. The royal library in Copenhagen - founded in the 17th century by King Frederik III and home to many historic treasures - has declared the drawings to be of historic value and is trying to acquire them for "preservation purposes". Around 100 people died in riots across the Muslim world as protests spread after the publication of the cartoons - one of which depicted Muhammad with a bomb in his turban - in numerous western newspapers in 2006. The disturbances led to Denmark's embassy in Damascus being burned and diplomatic missions in several other Muslim countries being attacked. The cartoons originally appeared in the Danish Jyllands-Posten newspaper in 2005. Jytte Kjaergaard, a spokeswoman for the library, said, "This is the obvious place to keep them because we have all the security measures in place. It would be very difficult for a private person to come in and sabotage them because to see them for research purposes you will need a letter of consent from your university professor. They will be treated like any rare book." Kasem Said Ahmad, spokesman for the Danish Muslim Society, which headed the original campaign against the cartoons, called the library's decision a "provocation" but said his organisation would ignore it as part of its new strategy. "We will not be holding any demonstrations as we got nothing from the Danish courts when we tried to sue the newspapers. We will ignore all provocations in future." Hoorah for Danish courage! |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #1 Danish Library mysteriously burns to the ground, turbaned and burka clad "Person" seen fleeing. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2008-01-30 23:05 |