Denmark After Sept. 11: Caricatures and Curbs on Free Speech

Just months after Sept. 11, Denmark's Anders Fogh Rasmussen swept to power with his right-of-center Liberal Party riding high on a wave of popular anger over rising immigration.

Nearly overnight, the government reversed Denmark's hitherto generous immigration policies, tightening requirements for asylum-seekers and for foreign residents trying to bring in spouses. Roughly 200,000 of Denmark's 5.4 million people are Muslims.

That tough stance was also evident in Rasmussen's foreign policy, when in 2003 Copenhagen aligned itself with Washington in its war against terror and committed fighting troops as well as a small battleship and submarine in Iraq -- casting the country as a belligerent for the first time since 1864.

Earlier in 2002, Rasmussen's right-leaning government passed a package of anti-terror laws, seen as among the toughest in Europe. One of the laws forbids instigation of terrorism and carries a penalty of up to six years in prison. It amounts to curbs on free speech that are considered remarkable in a country famous for tolerating all points of view.

Premier loses public support

Rasmussen's popularity has however eroded over the years as public opinion has turned against involvement in the Iraq war. The attacks in Madrid and London have also deepened terrorism fears among Danes.

Rasmussen faced his biggest foreign policy challenge in January this year when Denmark's biggest-selling daily broadsheet Jyllands-Posten published a series of caricatures depicting the Prophet Mohammed when a local author could not find artists to illustrate his book about the prophet.

The incident triggered a wave of violent protests among Muslims worldwide. Danish embassies were attacked in Syria, Indonesia and elsewhere, Danish flags were burned in several countries while some Muslim nations announced a trade boycott on Danish products.

Caricature controversy triggers wider debate

The Danish government was forced to ask its nationals and embassy staff to leave some Muslim countries. Over a dozen people were killed in the violence. Though the violent Muslim protests were condemned by many, Rasmussen too came under fire for seeming to worsen the situation when he initially refused to apologize or meet with Muslim groups. The protests ignited a wider debate in Europe about freedom of speech and religious sensitivities, in particular those of Islam.

Rasmussen's government was also rapped by the European Council this year for growing xenophobia in Denmark. The Council published a critical report blaming the government's "anti-immigration agenda" on its dependence on the far-right Danish People's Party (DPP). The DDP, though not a formal member of Rasmussen's center-right administration, has backed the government since 2001.