Copenhagen shooting during debate on Islam: live
One dead in shooting at a Copenhagen cultural centre, where a meeting about freedom of speech was being held - organised by a Swedish artist who had caricatured the Prophet Muhammad. Latest here
Harriet Alexander
By Harriet Alexander
5:22PM GMT 14 Feb 2015
This page will automatically update every 90 secondsOn Off
• 40-yr-old Danish man killed in shooting at cultural centre
• Three policemen reported injured
• French ambassador to Denmark inside but unharmed
• Meeting about freedom of speech was being held at the time
• Gathering organised by controversial Swedish artist Lars Vilks
• Lars Vilks caricatured Prophet Muhammad in 2007
18.15 DANISH POLICE SAY THEY DO NOT KNOW IF COPENHAGEN SHOOTING INCIDENT WAS A "TERRORIST ACT" BUT ARE INVESTIGATING IT AS ONE
17.50 Two suspected assailants escaped by vehicle after Copenhagen attack: police
17.44 More from Inna Shevchenko:
<noframe>Twitter: inna shevchenko - I was at the point of ny speech when i was saying that often it is an illusion that we have freedom of speech in Europe.then we heard shots</noframe>
17.35 Among those inside was Inna Shevchenko, an activist with feminist group Femen.
She said they are all now at a police station.
<noframe>Twitter: inna shevchenko - in the room with me there were few dozens of people, french ambassador Francois Zimeray, Lars Vilks</noframe><noframe>Twitter: inna shevchenko - We are in police station now</noframe>
17.31 The victim was a 40-year-old Danish man, police have said.
17.30 Copenhagen police confirmed to the Berlingske newspaper that the suspects wore black and spoke Danish.
The meeting was held under tight security, with delegates subject to searches as they entered the building.
17.27
<noframe>Twitter: martinpoulsen - Eyewitness Claire Lambert says see saw group of young males running through Faelledparken immediately after gun fire. <a href="
https://twitter.com/search?src=hash&q=%23cphshooting" target="_blank">#cphshooting</a></noframe>
17.22 Some reports suggest that the getaway car - the VW Polo - has been found abandoned, not far from the cultural centre.
17.13 ONE CIVILIAN DEAD AFTER SHOOTING INCIDENT IN COPENHAGEN - POLICE
17.12 These are the latest images from the cultural centre, showing how the attackers attempted to storm their way in.
17.01 More from Paris.
David Chazan reports that the French interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, will go to Copenhagen "as soon as possible," the office of President Hollande announced.
The French foreign minister has condemned what he said was "a terrorist attack".
16.55 The debate resumed after the shooting, according to one of the organisers.
Helle Merete Brix told TV2 News:
Quote People actually reacted very calmly, and the meeting continued. We could not get away, so we continued our discussion.
She said that she and the Swedish cartoonist hid in the cold store of the cultural centre.
Quote I was in a cold room and kept hold of Lars Vilks' hand. He was very cool.
We stood and told each other bad jokes.
His bodyguards did a tremendous job.
It is a dramatic and unpleasant reminder of what we are up against in these times.
16.49 The French ambassador, Francois Zimeray, has given a dramatic account of the attack to AFP news agency.
Quote They fired on us from the outside. It was the same intention as (the January 7 attack on) Charlie Hebdo except they didn't manage to get in.
Intuitively I would say there were at least 50 gunshots, and the police here are saying 200.
Bullets went through the doors and everyone threw themselves to the floor. We managed to flee the room, and now we're staying inside because it's still dangerous.
The attackers haven't been caught and they could very well still be in the neighbourhood.
16.46 This is the latest image from the scene.
16.42 Danish police are searching for a VW Polo, registration number AT 25 919.
This tweet, from a local journalist, reads: "WANTED IN COPENHAGEN : Police are looking for a VW Polo with registration AT 25 919 after shots fired on Osterbro".
Osterbro is a district in central Copenhagen.
<noframe>Twitter: Kaare Sørensen - EFTERLYSNING I K&Oslash;BENHAVN: Politiet s&oslash;ger VW Polo med registreringsnummer AT 25 919 efter skud p&aring; &Oslash;sterbro</noframe>
16.36 Helle Merete Brix, one of the organizers of the event, told The Associated Press that Vilks was present at the event but not injured.
Quote I saw a masked man running past. A couple of police officers were injured.
I clearly consider this as an attack on Lars Vilks.
16.34 Lars Vilks, the Swedish artist, has described himself as "a constant target".
16.32 A reminder that the French ambassador to Denmark was attending the discussion.
From Paris, our correspondent David Chazan reports:
Three Danish policemen have been wounded by shots fired at the cultural centre where a blasphemy debate was being held, the French TV news channel BFM reported
16.25 Mr Vilks spoke to The Wall Street Journal about the Charlie Hebdo attacks, and said that he refused to hide away in fear.
Quote Police protection doesn’t offer a 100% guarantee as we saw with Charlie Hebdo but it goes pretty far. I don’t have to lie awake at night listening for odd sounds.
He has to plan outings in advance because he “can’t go anywhere without a police escort,” he said.
Quote It’s tricky for me to be spontaneous.
Mr Vilks said he agrees that ridiculing religion in itself doesn’t have a value—“you need to have a point.” But he rejects the idea that artists and satirists should tread more carefully in their criticism of Islam.
Quote Almost the entire Muslim world is subject to a theological rule that has a strange outcome when it comes to human rights. You can’t ignore that.
Then you’re talking tactics, how should one go about to change that.
Some say, you should be very careful, but that’s just postponing the problem. Sooner or later you have to explain what you’re criticising.
16.23 The event featured Swedish artist Lars Vilks, who in 2007 drew an image of the Prophet as a dog on a traffic circle.
As a result, Al Qaeda in Iraq placed a $150,000 bounty on his head, and protests broke out across the Middle East.
He now is protected by bodyguards - his security detail was increased following the Paris attacks - and was unharmed in today's shooting.
16.21 The shooting took place during a discussion entitled: "Art, blasphemy and the freedom of expression".
16.19 A Norwegian journalist says that Danish television is reporting that a civilian in his 30s has been killed.
We have not received any official confirmation of this.
