DENMARK: Danish Muslims worry about integration following recent arrests of suspects believed to have been plotting worst terror attack in Denmark

Home of 19th century fairy tale writer Hans Christian Andersen, the Danish city of Odense is also home to a large migrant community, mainly Muslims from Africa and the Middle East. Several weeks ago, Danish police arrested seven men from Odense who they suspect were plotting a terrorist attack in the country. Despite the arrests, coming after the tension of last year's controversial publication of Mohammad cartoons that angered many Muslim countries, residents say they remain secure and safe living in their city. "We feel safe here, yes," said 45-year-old florist Flemming Pedersen. "Oh yes, I do. I don't consider it really a threat to the security in Denmark," said Johan Sorensen, a 67-year-old retired lecturer. "We have very good police here so I'm not frightened," said 68-year-old retiree Jørn Struve. The majority of those arrested live in Odense's suburb of Vollsmose - a poor neighbourhood with high unemployment and a reputation for crime in Denmark. People here have tried to improve its image, but the arrests have dealt a blow to those efforts. "The first reaction when the people were arrested was that of shock because we didn't expect such an action was going to be taken against the people living in this community," said forty-one-year-old Maher el-Badawi, a social worker who holds office at Vollsmose church and whose main task is to help Danish Muslims integrate into the community. The Danish arrests followed this summer's plot in Britain to blow up airplanes and two failed train bombings in Germany. In all three cases, law enforcement officials described the suspects as a new generation of young Muslim radicals, some born in Europe, willing to use violence against their home countries. Danish Muslims said they feared Danes would lump them all together in that category . "Inside you are afraid really. I watched everything. I watched in my bedroom and I watched them when they arrest him and I think now it's my turn. Really. Just because I am Muslim I thought 'Oh they are catching now all the Muslims'," said Saleh Hassan, whose brother, Said Hassan, is one of those arrested. Muslims in Odense now say the best way to put their integration efforts back on track would be the acquittal of those arrested. Two of the accused were released on bail last week, and the community took that as a good sign. But if they are found guilty, el-Badawi said the jobs of people like him will become more difficult. "I believe that we need to explain to the Danish people that the ones who have been arrested, they are not representatives of the Muslim society. The Muslim society in Denmark is a part of the Danish society. We try to explain that this minority is not representative of Islam. And it's not fair that all Muslims will be punished because of one group's actions," said el-Badawi, a Palestinian refugee who emigrated from Lebanon 18 years ago. Nena Madsen, who works at a museum in Odense said, "I feel safe and secure living here. I still go out at night...It's not like that. But what I feel is that we no longer have the freedom of speech. I'm afraid to talk about things which will be seen as sensitive to other people and here in Denmark, we like doing things like making fun of people... that's our humour. But I think now we cannot do that anymore. Of course I want everyone in Denmark to live peacefully but I think we now have a problem with our freedom of speech... and I think it's a shame," said 33-year-old Nena. Before a Danish paper published 12 drawings lampooning the Prophet, Denmark's 5.4 million inhabitants thought of themselves as tolerant and liberal people, generally welcome of immigrants. But as Muslims angry at the cartoons torched Danish embassies in the Middle East, the small Nordic country found itself at the the centre of a culture clash between Islam and the West. The Odense arrests further strained relations between Muslims and Danes, who are now struggling to reconcile their tradition of liberalism and tolerance with threats of violence unseen here in two decades.

ITN Source | November 2, 2006

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