DPP casts suspicion on new citizens

The Danish People’s Party (DPP) has come under fire for a full-page ad that appears in national Danish newspapers today Thursday. The ad names 685 people who are about to be granted Danish citizenship, and the town or city they live in, but the headline states ominously that ’one person on the list is a threat to Denmark’s security – and is about to become a Dane’, reports our Danish media partner Seven59.dk.

Justice Minister Morten Bødskov said it was insulting that the ad casts suspicion on the 684 who’ve done nothing wrong.

“If my name was on the list I wouldn’t like to be involved in an ad promoting the DPP. We’re talking about people who’ve been in this country for years and are now being rewarded with citizenship. Why should they be pilloried in this manner?”

Published in tabloids, Jyllands-Posten

The Liberals policy spokesperson, Ellen Trane Nørby, also distanced herself from the ad, claiming ’it’s a method that we would never employ’, but DPP leader Kristian Thulesen Dahl refuted charges that he was trying to stigmatise anybody.

“The names of new citizens are freely accessible on Parliament’s website but it’s also a well-known fact that Danish Intelligence (PET) has voiced objections against one of the persons on the list. If we know he’s a threat to national security why should we keep quiet?” he asked.

Tabloid daily Ekstra Bladet and Jyllands-Posten have published the controversial ad today but it was rejected by Berlingske, Politiken, and MetroXpress, provoking an angry response from Mr Thulesen Dahl who said he had no respect for any newspaper that tries to suppress the truth.

Tarring all with the same brush

Politiken editor Bo Lidegaard said he had more respect for the 684 who are looking forward to becoming citizens. “A lot of information is available to the public but publishing an ad with hundreds of names and pinpointing one of them as guilty is tarring then all with the same brush,” he said.

Article in in Politiken (in Danish):

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