- Saturday morning, at least one unidentified gunman shot up a cafe in Copenhagen that was hosting a event discussing free speech, art, and Islam. The attacker is still at large.
- One person attending the speech was killed, and three police guarding it were injured.
- The Copenhagen police believe it was a terrorist attack.
- Lars Vilks, a Swedish artist and al-Qaeda target, who is famous for drawings of Muhammed as a dog, was at the meeting.
Suspected terrorist attack on a free speech event in Copenhagen leaves one dead
Zack Beauchamp is a senior correspondent at Vox, where he covers ideology and challenges to democracy, both at home and abroad. His book on democracy, The Reactionary Spirit, was published 0n July 16. You can purchase it here.
A chilling tweet from someone at the event
This is horrifying news, especially on the heels of the Charlie Hebdo shooting in Paris. This tweet from Inna Shevchenko, an activist with the feminist group Femen who was speaking at the event, is especially chilling:
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
— inna shevchenko (@femeninna) February 14, 2015 Shevchenko’s tweet literalizes the broader threat posed by attacks on people whose only crime is speaking their mind. When terrorists attack people for drawing Muhammed, the intent isn’t just to kill these people: it’s to create a deterrent to anyone who might, in the future, use their speech rights in a way that radical Islamists don’t like. Writer Timothy Garton Ash calls this the “assassin’s veto:” the idea that killers can use fear to put limits on free speech.
Nothing makes that threat feel more real than gunfire literally interrupting an address meant to defend free speech.
