Far-right Paludan banned from Danish political festival for being 'risk to other participants'

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AA) – A far-right Danish Islamophobic politician known for his controversial Quran-burning protests in Denmark has been banned from participating in the Folkemodet political festival on the island of Bornholm.

The local police authorities on Tuesday imposed the ban on the presence of Rasmus Paludan around the festival area in and around the Allinge village from June 14 in the morning until midday on June 18 on the grounds that his presence would represent both a risk to himself and to other participants.

Paludan torched copies of the Muslim holy book, Quran, near a mosque and outside the premises of the Turkish Embassy in Copenhagen earlier this year. The act attracted condemnation from all around the world.

Reacting on the incidents, Denmark had maintained that they would not deteriorate its “good relationship” with Türkiye.

“Our task now is to talk to Türkiye about how the conditions are in Denmark with our open democracy, and that there is a difference between Denmark as a country – and our people as such – and then about individual people who have strongly divergent views,” Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen had said.

The desecration of the Quran prompted strong protests in the Muslim world, with Türkiye strongly condemning the permission given by the authorities for the provocative act which it said “clearly constitutes a hate crime.