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Banning Islamic Calls to Prayer may silence Danish church bells

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Danish political parties push for ban on calls to prayer,
sidestep constitutional issue by not mentioning Islam

© Swen Pförtner/ dpa/ Global Look Press

Several Danish political parties are urging the government to investigate banning calls to prayer due to the disruption they cause. But the move makes no mention of Islam because of likely issues with Denmark’s constitution.

Denmark’s second-largest party, Venstre, is leading the parliamentary push to ban prayer calls such as those played through loudspeakers by mosques, arguing that they’re “very disruptive.”

The Danish People’s Party, the Conservatives, and the New Right joined Venstre in presenting a resolution on the issue to parliament, Danish news outlet DR reports. Together, the four parties command 71 of the seats in Denmark’s 179-seat parliament.

Venstre member of parliament Mads Fuglede said the move is sparked by the disruption caused by the calls to prayer, which are known in Arabic as the adhan, and the fact they have not traditionally been heard in Denmark.

“For Venstre, it is not about a single religion, although I realise that prayer calls are often linked to Islam. Prayer calls are not something we have a tradition for in Danish society. We think that it will be very disruptive in Denmark,” Fuglede explained.

The debate about minaret calls in Denmark has rumbled on for several months, ever since a mosque in Gellerupparken, near Aarhus, played the call from a local football field instead of from the mosque, as the latter was shut due to the coronavirus pandemic.

It was the first time a public call to prayer had been heard in the Scandanavian country, and lawmakers have been debating its legality.

The resolution put forward by the four parties this week does not specifically mention Islam or any religion, referring instead to a ban on prayer calls using speakers in a public place.

Rasmus Stoklund, a spokesman for the ruling Social Democratic Party, says the government “essentially agrees” that prayer calls shouldn’t be allowed in Denmark, and Integration Minister Mattias Tesfaye is investigating the legality of having them banned.

However, the proposed ban would potentially violate the constitution if it is aimed specifically at Islam, and there are fears that it could affect Christian churches too, if the law is too broad. 

“If we make legislation now, we also run the risk of it hitting the church bells of the Danish Church, and that we are on edge with constitutional rights on religious freedom and various conventions,” Stoklund said.

Calls to prayer violate regulations in many countries, but the laws are being relaxed in some places. Denmark’s neighbor Sweden first allowed them to be played in public in 2013. 

The issue has also been debated in the UK, in recent months, as mosques there were permitted to call worshipers to personal prayer through loudspeakers for the first time, so as to encourage them to stay – and pray – at home amid the coronavirus pandemic. The development prompted calls from leading clerics for the practice to be allowed to continue in the future.

'I'M GOING TO STAB THEM' 

Glasgow knife attacker named as ‘loner’ asylum seeker who ‘vowed to stab hotel neighbours for making too much noise’

Holly Christodoulou, Brittany Vonow, The Sun

A CRAZED asylum seeker told pals he was going to "stab" his loud neighbours the night before he went on the Glasgow knife rampage.

Sudanese national Badradeen believed his fellow hotel guests were "making noise to deliberately annoy him".

Siraj (pictured) said the suspect had called him to say he was going to stab his loud neighbours

Credit: SKY NEWS

A paramedic covers his face after the horror unfolded at the Glasgow hotel

Credit: Alamy Live News

The "loner" made the chilling threat to friend, Siraj, just hours before launching into the frenzied stabbing spree.

Six people were knifed in the horror yesterday - including a dad-of-two cop - with armed police shooting Badradeen dead.

Siraj, 22, told Mail Online: "He said that he was going to attack two guys in the room next to his because they're were making noise to deliberately annoy him.

"I said 'No No No' and that it was just that the hotels walls were thin and it was just noise."

But he said Badradeen told him: "No. They hate me. And I hate them. I am going to stab them."

HORROR ATTACK
Siraj warned hotel staff at the Park Inn but he later woke to find blood splattering the walls.

Badradeen, who is believed to have been in the UK for around six months after travelling from Sudan, has been described as having "big hair" and a cute face.

One fellow hotel guest, who saw Badradeen holding a knife, said he was "fed up" and wanted to go back home.

The knifeman was aged in his 20s and his mental health had been declining for around "three months".

It comes after Sky News today reported that a liaison worker had spoken with hotel staff about 11pm on Thursday - warning of concerns for the man's state of mind.

It was further claimed that just minutes before the attack unfolded on Friday, the asylum seeker had spoken with an immigration solicitor on the phone.

The lawyer said he would raise concerns with a "safeguarding" team at the Home Office but minutes later at 12.50pm, the man began the knife rampage.

BLOODBATH
Police shot dead the suspect after the attack at the hotel, which is being temporarily used to house 100 asylum seekers.

Guests were alerted to the stabbing spree when screams rang out at the city centre hotel after the knifing around 1pm yesterday afternoon.

Cop David Whyte, 42, today remains in hospital in a stable condition - attacked as he arrived at the scene just two minutes after it began to unfold.

Witnesses yesterday revealed how they found the reception area strewn with blood and victims lying inside and on the street.

A 17-year-old boy and the other victims, all men, are aged 18, 20, 38 and 53 and remain in hospital.

Police Scotland today confirmed three other people who were injured were asylum seekers staying at the Park Inn Hotel while the other two people who were injured were hotel staff.

All of them remain in hospital. One is critical but stable, and two are stable, at Glasgow Royal Infirmary. Two others are in stable conditions at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.

A hero delivery driver yesterday told how he tried to stem the blood of a handyman caught up in the violence.

And a traumatised friend recounted how his pal screamed "help me" after being stabbed by the "calm" knifeman.

Daniel Redhead said: "I saw him trying to fight the guy off as he was stabbing him."

It comes after it was reported the knifeman had threatened other refugees rehoused in a hotel recently after complaining about living conditions, the Telegraph reports.

Emergency services flooded to the scene in GlasgowCredit: EPA

Ako Zada, an activist from Kurdish Community Scotland, told the Telegraph: “The attacker was a Sudanese asylum seeker and he’d been telling his friends that he was very hungry in the hotel.

"In the past few days he was threatening people, and it was reported to the staff the day before.

"Sitting in a hotel for three months was a big issue - they said it was like being in prison."

During lockdown, the hotel has been used to help shelter asylum seekers and trafficking victims by accommodation provider Mears Group.

Fears were raised in April over social-distancing measures among the men, women and families moved into shelter amid the coronavirus crisis.

In the wake of the attack, Nicola Sturgeon tweeted: "The toughest of days for Glasgow. My thoughts and best wishes are with those injured, and my deep gratitude goes to our emergency services, especially Police Scotland.

"I’m proud to call this city home and I know the strength and humanity of its people will always see it through."

Boris Johnson tweeted his support to those affected, saying: "Deeply saddened by the terrible incident in Glasgow, my thoughts are with all the victims and their families.

"Thank you to our brave emergency services who are responding."

Police officer David Whyte is in hospital after rushing towards danger

Credit: Spindrift Photo Agency. All Rights Reserved.