Danish Police Launch Investigation after Attack on Copenhagen Mosque
The Imam Ali (AS) Mosque in the Norrbro neighborhood of Copenhagen was targeted on Friday, July 18, by an extremist group of youth known as the ‘Identity Generation’.
The mosque’s management condemned the incident, describing it as a blatant attack on the right to peacefully perform religious rituals.
In video footage posted by the group on social media, four members in yellow vests are seen climbing onto the roof of the mosque on Friday morning, lighting red smoke bombs and holding a banner that reads: “Stop Islamization; Reverse Migration, Now.”
The extremist groups spokesman, Daniel Nordentoff, told Danish newspaper Berlingska that the aim of the action was “to draw attention to the fact that this mosque is a symbol of things that do not belong to Denmark”.
Copenhagen police said they had received a report and were investigating the case, but did not provide further details.
A spokesman for the right-wing movement claimed the incident did not cause any material damage and lasted only 10 minutes.
“We did not cause any damage. We only entered symbolically and left after 10 minutes.”
He said the group considered the move an act of “civil disobedience” but the mosque management considered the attack an act of vandalism and aggression.
The far-right group Generation Identity is one of the most controversial right-wing youth groups in Europe. It is known for its anti-immigration and anti-multiculturalism stances, and advocates for what it calls “reverse migration” and the return of non-Western immigrants to their countries of origin. The group is banned in France and its logo (the Greek letter lambda) is banned in Austria.
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Imam Ali (AS) Mosque in Copenhagen
In 1994, with the merger of the Al-Mustafa Center, the Lebanese School, and the Muhammadiyah Mosque, the first steps were taken to establish the largest Shia mosque in Europe.
In 2001, with the great efforts of Hojat-ol-Islam Seyed Mohammad Mahdi Khademi, son of Ayatollah Seyed Hussein Khademi Isfahani, and with the special help of the great religious authorities and the assistance of the Ahl-ul-Bayt (AS) World Assembly and the help of the believers, a land area of 3,000 meters was purchased to build the first Danish mosque in the heart of Copenhagen.
Until 2011, this large Islamic center provided all the services a Shia needed for all Shia nationalities speaking different languages, from Danish to English, and from Arabic to Persian and Urdu.
In September 2011, a strange thing happened: the Shias wanted to convert the old building they had purchased into a beautiful Shia mosque with authentic Islamic architecture. This work was subject to permission from the Danish municipality.
On the day the permit meeting was held at the city hall, a large crowd gathered in front of the city hall, waiting to hear the outcome of the meeting. Suddenly, a beautiful chant of Allahu Akbar rose from the crowd, signaling approval for the construction of the mosque. The tears and smiles of that glorious day will never be erased from the minds of the Danish people.
Construction of the mosque began in 2011 and it was inaugurated on the day of Eid al-Ghadir in 2015.
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