Bij de praatdokter

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Another issue

So, apparently the burning of tires, cars and schools in Copenhagen and the rest of Denmark is a different issue than the recently reheated discussion about the Mohammed cartoons. I found a distinction and explanation on a Danish blog, but I still miss a discussion in the newspaper Politiken.

Today they started some background story about angry teenagers behaving like we saw it in France.

Copenhagen burning

I got a subscription to Politiken Weekly for christmas, which means that I since January have been a bit more updated on the Danish news, at least more than was by browsing randomly on Politiken.dk once in a while.

The front page of Politiken Weekly this week featured a picture of a bonfire on a street in Nørrebro. The text below the photo was a press release from Ritzau, saying 11 people were arrested for starting bonfires last Sunday. There was no mention of who or why.

Today I see that the front page of the Politiken online features an article about how the bonfires have spread to more cities: Århus, Nordsjælland, Ringsted, Slagelse. But still not a single reference to answer the first obvious questions of the alert reader: who did it? and why?

It is no secret that there has been a lot of attention to the Danish reprinting of the Mohammed cartoons which followed the Danish police intelligence discovery of a planned attack on one of the cartoonists. And without any further hints. I would automatically assume that these bonfires was started by angry mobs of muslims who feel their religion has again been set aside to advertise for the Danish freedom of speech.
But why does the newspaper not mention this? Are they afraid to blame someone by speculation? And can it really be that there has not been a questioning of the at least 11 people who were arrested for starting bonfires? I do not think so. But I am puzzled by the way the newspaper handles this.