COPENHAGEN, Denmark - Videos showing anti-immigrant party members mocking the Prophet Muhammad were pulled from Web sites Monday as two youths seen in the clips were reported in hiding and the Foreign Ministry warned Danes against traveling to much of the Middle East.
Muslim clerics from Egypt and Indonesia condemned the video broadcast in Denmark last week showing members of the Danish People’s Party youth wing with cartoons of a camel wearing the head of Muhammad and beer cans for humps. A second drawing placed a turbaned, bearded man next to a plus sign and a bomb, all equaling a mushroom cloud.
In a move aimed at defusing tension, the Danish Foreign Ministry met ambassadors from Muslim countries to discuss the video Monday. It was unclear how many diplomats took part in the meeting hosted by Foreign Ministry director Ulrik Federspiel or which countries they represented.
Foreign Ministry officials explained to the ambassadors that the government had denounced the drawings and that the footage had been removed from the two Web sites that had posted it, the ministry said.
Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen condemned the youth in the video Sunday, saying “their tasteless behavior does in no way represent the way the Danish people or young Danish people view Muslims or Islam.”
Citing critical media reports from many Muslim regions, the Foreign Ministry cautioned against travel to Gaza, the West Bank, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey.
“Against that background, we urge Danes to use caution as the matter could possibly lead to negative reactions. The atmosphere and reactions can vary dependent on time and place. Danes should be aware of the local mood,” the ministry said.
The episode comes in the aftermath of an outcry across the Muslim world after the original September 2005 printing in Danish newspapers of 12 cartoons portraying Muhammad — considered taboo for most Muslims.
Four months later, the images were reprinted in a range of Western media, triggering massive protests from Morocco to Indonesia.
The video was produced by an artists’ group, Defending Denmark. In a message posted along with the video, the group said it had infiltrated the Danish People’s Party Youth, known as DFU, for 18 months “to document (their) extreme right wing associations.”
“This is not an example of something that is meant to provoke. This is an example to show how things are in Danish politics,” artist Martin Rosengaard Knudsen told Danish public radio.
The clip was removed from that broadcaster’s Web site Monday, as well as from the Nyhedsavisen newspaper’s site. The purpose of the original publication was “not to insult Muslims or expose any members ... to any danger,” said the paper’s editor, David Trads.
A party official reportedly said that two youths seen in the video clips had gone into hiding.
