Politicians seek ban as Hizb ut-Tahrir visits Odense school

Politicians are calling for Hizb ut-Tahrir to be banned after five representatives of the Islamic organisation handed out flyers at Mulernes Legatskole, an upper-secondary school in Odense, on Friday morning, DR reports.

Police were called to the school, where the representatives remained peaceful and calm. They distributed flyers describing Danish youth culture as “limitless and shameless” and urging Muslim students to stand firm in their Islamic identity.

The school is currently flying rainbow flags to mark Copenhagen Pride. Principal Henrik Stokholm believes Hizb ut-Tahrir’s presence was a direct response to the flags.

“I wrote yesterday that we would raise these flags to celebrate diversity and Pride in Copenhagen. Then this morning people from Hizb ut-Tahrir, who are not from Odense and had travelled a long way, were standing here,” he said.

“A forceful message”

Clara Guldbæk Grønbæk, a second-year student at the school, said she was uncomfortable with the organisation’s message.

“I think it is a forceful message to have thrown in your face. It is a rather forceful place to position yourself when it is just young people going to school,” she said.

Although the representatives were polite and smiling as they handed out the flyers, Grønbæk said it was the content rather than the people themselves that she found forceful.

“It is not the men who are forceful. It is more the message. When you read the flyer, what they mean is forceful,” she said.

Politicians call for organisation to be banned

Several politicians have criticised Hizb ut-Tahrir this week and called for the organisation to be banned. The calls followed the publication of a flyer over the weekend urging Muslim students to remember their Islamic identity and distance themselves from a culture in which “following one’s desires and embracing an often shameless and limitless youth culture is presented as normal and valuable”.

Steen Schaumburg-Müller, a professor at the University of Southern Denmark’s legal institute, said a ban could not be ruled out.

Legal practice has changed in recent years following the ban on the Loyal to Familia gang, he said, making it possible to examine whether Hizb ut-Tahrir could fall into the same category.

“Have things happened there that Hizb ut-Tahrir could actually be covered by in a possible ban? I cannot say whether it is sufficient, but someone could determine that if they investigate it,” he said.

The five representatives did not want to be interviewed by DR News when they were met outside the school. They referred questions to the organisation’s press spokesperson, who had not responded to several inquiries from DR News.