Danish police said to nix Muslim ‘peace ring’ in Copenhagen

A Norwegian television station reported Monday that a Muslim “peace ring” proposal in Denmark was rejected by Danish police.

According to Norway’s TV 2 website, a group of young Danish Muslims are attempting to organize a similar Muslim-Jewish coexistence effort as that seen in Norway Saturday in which some 1,300 Muslim, Jews and ethnic Norwegians attended the “peace ring” protest outside the Berstien synagogue in Oslo.

“I think it is horrible that Jews are so afraid and I can well understand why they are afraid. I am puzzled why someone should threaten them,” one of the Danish organizers, Niddal El-Jabri, said in the TV 2 report.

According to TV 2, the Copenhagen police have rejected the proposal for security concerns.

“We have chosen to say no because of a specific security assessment of the situation we have here right now,” Copenhagen police spokesman Mads Jensen told TV 2.

The peace ring came in response to February 14 terror attack, in which a lone Islamist gunman killed two people, including a guard outside a synagogue, in two separate incidents in Copenhagen.

Even before the attack, Jews in Western Europe had raised alarms over what they say is a worrying increase in anti-Semitism.

According to TV 2, father of slain synagogue guard Dan Uzan said the Oslo event had given him hope and a reason to live.

In the wake of the terror attack, the Danish government allocated almost a billion kroner ($152 million) for a new 12-step anti-terror package, Danish Radio website Danmarks Radio reported Friday.

Also on Friday, Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs Martin Lidegaard announced during a trip to Washington, DC that Copenhagen will host an international anti-terror conference before the parliament’s summer session.

“When it comes to prevention, I believe we are a pioneer,” said Lidegaard.