Copenhagen terror attacks

[politicus]

Danish police have said three officers were shot and wounded at blasphemy debate in Copenhagen where the French ambassador was speaking.

Two gunmen are said to still be at large.

Reports say up to forty shots were fired outside the venue in the Danish capital.

Controversial Danish cartoonist Lars Vilks, who has drawn caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, was also present at the debate, according to local reports.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-31472423

Vilks is Swedish.

Glad no one was killed and glad I am not home at the moment, I live only a couple of blocks away.

Perpetrators spoke Danish.

Ironically the culture house where it happened is named Krudttønden ( the Powder Keg)

[politicus]

One person killed.

A random 40 year old man that happened to pass by. The perpetrator shot him in the chest. He is described as 185-190 cm tall, dark skinned, muscular and with stubs. So here we go...

Good for the DPP in an election year, bad for everybody else.

[politicus]

I know I am being cynical here and it is not that I have no empathy for the family of the death or of the wounded officers.

But a random 40 year old civilian man (= age where he is likely to have underage children) shot by a Danish speaking dark skinned guy (= "Muslim" - mørklødet literally means dark skinned, but is never used for black people or mulattoes and I bet this guy is not a Sicilian or Israeli) - is the worst possible combo.

[politicus]

Just got hold of the last of the three guys I know in the relevant age group. Safe and sound.

[politicus]

The police has now released a description of one of the two shooters at the meeting:

25–30 years old, around 185 cm tall, athletic build with "Arabic appearance, but lighter skin than usual" and straight black hair.

So "Arabic"...

[politicus]

At their press briefing the police emphasized that the target is unknown and may as well have been the French Ambassador as Vilks (or possibly both of course).

[politicus]

The tree cops (two of them Vilks bodyguards) were wounded in the shoulder, leg and groin respectively, so thankfully nothing critical.

[politicus]

The police know say there were only one shooter at "Krudttønden", but unclear if it was the same guy that killed the 40 year old. The shooter ran away together with another man after the police had returned fire.

They have found the getaway car.

[politicus]

snip

I find this post to be very bad taste, through I'm sure you have the best intensions with it, but I still suggest you delete it.

It's bad taste to say that murder is bad?

I found it odd as well. It implied that they somehow even each other out - attack on Muslims in the US/ attack by (probably) Muslims in Copenhagen.

This shooting is also likely politically motivated (= terror), which it is far from obvious that the killings on the parking lot were.

Willips tends to post these somewhat odd, super short/no context replies in threads about sensitive topics, which is problematic.

[politicus]

The French Ambassador to Denmark Francois Zimeray is not your standard diplomat. He is a prominent human rights advocate (started an organization to help Cambodian refugees when he was 17 and never stopped).

"# Played a decisive role in the organisation of the European campaign in support for Darfur. In 2007, he visited the Darfur refugee camps in Chad with the French philosopher, Bernard-Henri Lévy. He raised awareness and managed to mobilize French public opinion as well as political leaders.

# Founded the Alliance of Lawyers for Human Rights in 2009 offering free legal expertise to associations, NGOs and institutions working in the field of human rights.

# Supports The People's Voice, the initiative by Palestinian Sari Nusseibeh and Israeli Ami Ayalon. François Zimeray went to Gaza twice and described the attitude of people defining themselves as exclusively in favour of one side against the other ("pro-palestinian" or "pro-Israel") as "intellectual hooliganism".

# Founded the Cercle Léon Blum and worked to promote dialogue between European leaders and Middle Eastern political and civil society representatives as Chairman of the Medbridge Strategy Center founded in Brussels with prominent European politicians such as Willy De Clercq, François Léotard, Emma Bonino and Ana Palacio. He then had several meetings with Shimon Peres, Mahmoud Abbas and King Abdullah II of Jordan.

# France’s Ambassador-at-large for Human Rights since 2008 with near to 100 diplomatic missions have led him to the Syrian border, Chechnya, Colombia, Gaza, Israel, Sri Lanka camps, Turkmenistan, Burma, Moscow, Thailand, Baghdad, Jordan, Lebanon, Kirghizstan, Uganda, Chad, Burundi, Congo, Rwanda, Libya, Algeria, Egypt, Nepal, among others. Also in charge of Holocaust related issues and active in raising awareness of growing anti-semitism."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Zimeray#Career

I am not at all sure Vilks was the target. Zimeray would have been a very symbolic casualty.

[politicus]

Dan Uzan was also former elite basketball player, team leader for his clubs veteran team and involved in a lot of volunteer work. Israeli dad/Danish mum.





Both the death sounds like really good guys, which makes it even more sad.

[politicus]

The attacker was just released from prison after serving most of a two year sentence. He attacked a 19 year old man in a city train back in November 2013 with a knife, claiming he thought the victim had been part of an attack against him (which he hadn't). Also said he had smoked too much cannabis and suffered from angst. Sounds slightly paranoid.

The victim was fairly close to bleeding to death and the judges and the jury disagreed whether he should go down for attempted murder, but a majority of the judges saved him and he was only convicted for assault.

He stabbed his victim twice in the thigh and the location of the wounds was the reason he wasn't convicted. Too bad two of the three judges didn't go with the jury.

Gang member - Brothas from Nørrebro, "immigrant"-gang, but not connected to Islamists.

EDIT: If you are found guilty by a Danish jury, a majority of three judges needs to approve the verdict (called the double guarantee). Only one of the judges agreed with the jury in this case.

The reason he was released so early was that he had appealed the verdict and would have had to serve more than the 2/3 of his sentence that you normally serve before getting parole in DK before the appeal court could have heard the case. So they decided to release him and let him serve what might have remained of his sentence afterwards. Pretty stupid since he would not have spend above two years in jail anyway.

[politicus]

Police have charged two young men aged 19 and 22 "with immigrant background" for helping Omar Abdel Hamid acquiring weapons and hiding him after the assault + illegal possession of firearms. Unclear if one of them is the second guy seen running from "Krudttønden". There have been about five other arrests, but none of those have been charged (yet).

[politicus]

Apparently Netanyahu wants to finish the job Hitler started.

...

[politicus]

Around 45 minutes prior to his first attack Omar Abdel Hamid El-Hussein or an accomplice uploaded a video to his facebook profile with a hymn/tribute to "the Jihad of the sword" (armed Jihad).

The video was produced by a company called 'Proud Muslim' and had been placed on YouTube on a channel, where several of the other videos show the ISIS-flag and celebrates ISIS-victories.

El-Hussein has Palestinian parents and had a strong hatred of all Jews. People who knew him said he liked to discuss Islam, but when and to what extent he got involved with militant Islamists remain unclear, but it seems he was not a complete "lone wolf". He did have some sort of support network (but it might just have been some of his "Brothas").

Still, it was not a very professional attack and he had not been trained by professionals. That much seems to be clear.

[politicus]

It might be an idea for everyone to calm down.

Everyone is a big word for an exchange that only involved two people.

Also:

[politicus]

The weapon used at "Kudttønden" was a Canadian manufactured M/95 assault rifle (firing 700-900 rounds a minute), which has been the Danish military standard weapon since 1995. It is not a weapon that is generally available on the black market in Denmark or neighbouring countries - so probably stolen from the Army.

[politicus]

30.000 participated in a memorial cermony in Copenhagen today. Also memorials across the country and at the Danish embassy in Berlin.
http://www.dr.dk/Nyheder/Billedserier/2015/02/16185608.htm

The Mayor of Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo and her deputy Patrick Klugman were there along with Charlie Hebdo journalist Patrick Pelloux. Nice gesture.

[politicus]

Any political reaction so far? Heightened security for instance?

Heightened protection of Jewish institutions for an unlimited period. Lots of talk about increased police powers, more surveilance etc. All four Blue Bloc leaders had an opinion piece about it in Jyllands-Posten.

The M/95 was stolen from a Home Guard member and that is controversial because the government promised to ban Home Guard members from having weapons at home back in 2011 and has done nothing about it. They will likely ban it now, but SD still drag their feet. The Red-Greens demand a ban. The Conservatives are "open for a discussion" as long as the weapons are kept at local depots, while the Liberals are against it.