The Swedish artist Lars Vilks, thought to be the target of the terrorist attack on Saturday in Copenhagen during a debate about freedom of speech, has been talking about the incident.
Interviewed on Radio 4’s Today programme, the 68-year-old was asked whether he regretted drawing a cartoon in 2007 that depicted Muhammed as a dog, which has made him a target for Islamic extremists.
He said: “No, I think that would be quite useless because it’s impossible to see the consequences. Normally you can draw anything and nothing happens. And when something happens it’s a long series of coincidences which actually can lead to what you pointed out…
“This is a game, where these people want to point out a few targets, which they then keep an intense interest for, and they scare everyone else, they then can remain some sort of threat against the whole people, with this idea.”
He continued: “As an artist, it’s quite natural to point out these taboos we have and asking should we have this taboo. So if you’re an artist and work with transgressive art, then you have to stand up for that point of view and you should have no regrets.”
Police protection
Vilks has had police protection since 2010 and has faced death threats before. The attack, during which Finn Nørgaard, 55, a film director was killed, happened at around 4pm on Saturday at the Krudttønden cafe in the central Østerbro district of the city. Vilks was due to speak at a seminar titled Art, Blasphemy and Freedom of Speech.
Later, on Sunday morning, the same gunman shot dead volunteer guard Dan Uzan at the Copenhagen central synagogue where a bat mitzvah was taking place. The gunman, named by Danish media as Omar El-Hussein, 22, was later killed by police after an exchange of gun fire.
Describing the shootings, Vilks said: “It very much looks like this guy tried to copy the Paris happenings: two different targets, one is the infame of the prophet, and the other is the Jews.”
Asked about his own situation and the threats on his life, Vilks said: “I’m on this famous list of Al-Qaida where they have a bunch of people you can choose as targets… The security is at a very high level now… Everything has to be planned, I cannot go out on my own.”
When asked whether he was afraid, Vilks replied: “No. Before I had bodyguards I was a bit scared because I had to look after myself, at that time it was more problematic, but today? No.”
Poppy artist’s threats
In an unrelated revelation, Paul Cummins, the artist behind the Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red poppies installation at the Tower of London, has revealed that he has received death threats.
Speaking to the Sunday Times, he said he had been threatened via email, phone and letter over plans for services charities to benefit from the £10m raised from the sale of the poppies.
He said: “The threats came, I suppose, because they felt that the money was going to charities which in some way were involved in war.”
