Danish PM Condemns Prophet Video

""It is unacceptable behavior of a small group of young people," said Rasmussen.

"I strongly condemn the behavior of members of the youth wing of the Danish Peoples' Party during their summer camp," Rasmussen said in a written statement to the Danish news agency Ritzau, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"It is unacceptable behavior of a small group of young people. Their tasteless behavior in no way represents the Danish people's or young Danes' view of Muslims or Islam," Rasmussen said.

Denmark's TV2 channel has broadcast excerpts from a video showing members of the extreme-right Danish People's Party portraying the prophet Mohammed as a beer-drinking camel and a drunken terrorist attacking Copenhagen.

Swift

The prime minister said he was pleased that youth wings of parties from across the political spectrum in Denmark had condemned the film.

The youth wings of other parties, including the ruling Liberal party, criticized the DPP and said they would protest by not attending any political events where members of the Danish Peoples' Party were present.

The president of the DPP Youth, Kenneth Kristensen, who did not participate in the party, on Friday, October 6, distanced his organization from the footage.

Pundits say the prime minister has learnt the lesson from last year's cartoons crisis and swiftly condemned the offensive video.

A government-backed study condemned Rasmussen for mishandling the cartoons crisis sparked last year by the publication of 12 caricatures mocking the Prophet in Danish mass-circulation Jyllands Posten.

Rasmussen refused in October 2005 to meet with 11 ambassadors from Muslim nations who had asked to see him in a bid to nip a looming crisis in the bud.

Rasmussen said he regretted the hurt caused to Muslims but refuses to apologize for the publications of the drawings.

No Responsibility

Abu Laban (L) with Nyhed Avisen editor-in-chief David Trads.

A delegation of Muslim leaders in Denmark met Sunday with the newspaper's editor-in-chief David Trads, who argued that the paper just exposed to the public opinion what had been going on behind the closed doors of the DPP's youth wing.

"It is very important to highlight the political culture of this party, which is a strong ally to the government and the third largest party in Denmark," he told IslamOnline.net.

He said the newspaper covered the incident and was in no way involved in it.

"We have just covered a political incident," he said. "It is important to expose the racism of this party, which grows extremist when it comes to Islam."

Ahmed Abu-Laban, a Copenhagen imam who attended the meeting with Trads, said the issue is completely different from that of the Jyallands Posten.

"The Danish media is not responsible this time for the crisis," he told IOL. "It is the Posten that organized a contest of cartoons lampooning the Prophet."

"The paper has just heralded the news and did not spark the crisis," he added.

Abu Laban, who helped organize a trip to Egypt and Lebanon last year to rally support among Muslim leaders for protests against the cartoons, urged the Muslim nation to address the current crisis in a profound approach.

Muslim leaders in Denmark said on Saturday they will not be provoked by such a "childish manner," but will take an astute action against the insult by the anti-immigrant.

Muslims make up around three percent of Denmark’s 5.3 population, making Islam the second largest religion after the Lutheran Protestant Church.