Rasmus Paludan (born 2 January 1982) is a Danish-Swedish politician and lawyer, who is the founder and leader of the

far-right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on the far end of the ...

nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...

Danish political party

Stram Kurs (), () is a far-right, nationalist, anti-Islam political party in Denmark and Sweden founded in 2017 by Danish-Swedish lawyer Rasmus Paludan. The party is almost exclusively associated with its founder and his anti-Islam activism and demonstra ...

. Paludan has become known for his extremist views, including that

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

should be banned and that immigrants of non-Western background should be deported from Denmark. He is considered by political scientists and media to be far-right and a right-wing extremist. Paludan is known for his

Islamophobic Islamophobia is the irrational fear of, hostility towards, or hatred against the religion of Islam or Muslims in general. Islamophobia is primarily a form of religious or cultural bigotry; and people who harbour such sentiments often stereot ...

and " Islam-critical" events and demonstrations, which are often held in

urban Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to: * Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas * Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities Urban may also refer to: General * Urban (name), a list of people ...

areas with many Muslim immigrants, initially in Denmark. During the demonstrations, he has called the

Quran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...

"the big book of whores" and Islam "gay Islam", just as he has burned, spat on and thrown the Quran and encouraged people to urinate on it. Paludan has particularly attracted attention by recording videos of his demonstrations and uploading them to the Stram Kurs party's

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel. In 2020, the channel was shut down by YouTube, citing that their guidelines prohibit harassment and

hate speech Hate speech is a term with varied meaning and has no single, consistent definition. It is defined by the ''Cambridge Dictionary'' as "public speech that expresses hate or encourages violence towards a person or group based on something such as ...

directed at individuals or groups based on race or religion. His burnings of the Quran led to rioting in Sweden in 2022, and burnings in 2023 were said to have started what caused "an enormous global controversy". As a lawyer, Paludan has been a defence attorney in several cases with the press's attention. Paludan has also been involved in and subject to a number of

lawsuit A lawsuit is a proceeding by one or more parties (the plaintiff or claimant) against one or more parties (the defendant) in a civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today ...

s, legal disputes, and criminal charges. In 2019, he was sentenced to 14 days conditional imprisonment for violating the Danish racism clause. In 2021, he was found guilty of racist and derogatory statements, and received a conditional sentence of 3 months in prison and had to pay

compensation Compensation may refer to: *Financial compensation *Compensation (chess), various advantages a player has in exchange for a disadvantage *Compensation (essay), ''Compensation'' (essay), by Ralph Waldo Emerson *Compensation (film), ''Compensation'' ...

to the offended, a Somali woman. As of 2020, Paludan was under constant police protection due to threats against him for his activity.

Background and education

Paludan was born in

North Zealand North Zealand, also North Sealand (), refers to the northeastern part of the Danish island of Zealand. The Danish tourist authorities have recently introduced the term Danish Riviera to cover the area in view of its increasing importance for to ...

and grew up in

Hornbæk Hornbæk () is a seaside resort town on the north coast of the Danish island of Sjælland, facing the Øresund which separates Denmark from Sweden. It is part of Helsingør Municipality and is located 12 km northwest of Helsingør. It is mai ...

, Denmark. Rasmus Paludan is the brother of poet Tine Paludan and writer Martin Paludan, who was a former social media manager for The Alternative. Paludan's mother married his Swedish father, Tomas Polvall, in 1979 thereby acquiring the right to Swedish citizenship. Paludan became a student at

Helsingør Gymnasium Helsingør Gymnasium (In English: Elsinore High School) is a high school in Elsinore, Denmark. It opened in 1978 in an existing set of buildings from the 60s. Earlier Espergaerde High School had the name "Elsinore High School". Alumni * Jakob B ...

in 2000, where he was

student council A student council (also known as a student union, associated student body or student parliament) is an administrative organization of students in different educational institutes ranging from elementary schools to universities and research or ...

chairman for a period. After high school he served his military service. Paludan began studying law in 2001 and in 2008 became a Master of Law from the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen (, KU) is a public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia, after Uppsala University. ...

. Paludan had the year's ninth highest grade point average after his

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

. However, a road accident in 2005 delayed his law studies. During his studies, he worked for Kromann Reumert in 2004 and the following year was an intern with the chief prosecutor of the

International Criminal Court The International Criminal Court (ICC) is an intergovernmental organization and International court, international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute ...

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

. In 2014, Paludan was commissioned as a lawyer with the right to appear before the High Court. From 2015 to 2018, Paludan was employed as an external lecturer at the Faculty of Law at the University of Copenhagen, where several students complained to the student management about Paludan's teaching and behaviour. Both of his siblings have publicly distanced themselves from Rasmus Paludan's political messages and methods. Paludan has stated that those who know him know that he is "out of category". Paludan has described himself as principled and added that he is so to such an extent that it has probably limited his circle of friends. Paludan's road accident in 2005, in which he suffered a

brain injury Brain injury (BI) is the destruction or degeneration of brain cells. Brain injuries occur due to a wide range of internal and external factors. In general, brain damage refers to significant, undiscriminating trauma-induced damage. A common ...

, has been claimed in court documents to have resulted in subsequent significant personality changes, including lack of ability to tolerate others' mistakes, depression, as well as a 25 percent loss of work ability. Paludan's father, however, rejects the idea that the accident caused any significant mental changes in his son. In 2020, Paludan founded the Church of Saint James the Moor-slayer with himself as

Archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

, named after the Spanish legendary figure James Matamoros who helped the Christians conquer the Muslim Moors as part of the

Reconquista The ''Reconquista'' (Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese for ) or the fall of al-Andalus was a series of military and cultural campaigns that European Christian Reconquista#Northern Christian realms, kingdoms waged ag ...

. He also attempted to register the church in Sweden in 2022. In August 2022, Paludan was accepted to study theology at the University of Copenhagen, but stated that he did not want to become a priest of the

Church of Denmark The Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Denmark or National Church ( , or unofficially ; ), sometimes called the Church of Denmark, is the established, state-supported church in Denmark. The supreme secular authority of the church is composed of ...

, since he is already Archbishop of his own church.

Political career

Former affiliations

Paludan has been a member of the Danish Social Liberal Youth and, according to the news agency

Ritzau Ritzaus Bureau A/S, or Ritzau for short, sometimes stylized as /ritzau/, is a Denmark, Danish news agency founded by Erik Ritzau in 1866. It collaborates with three other Scandinavian news agencies to provide Nordic News, an English-language Scan ...

sat on the organisation's main board in 2003, which has however been publicly denied by Rasmus Paludan himself, who stated that he was only on its board in Copenhagen. Paludan has also been a member of the

Danish Social Liberal Party The Danish Social Liberal Party (, RV, ) is a Social liberalism, social-liberal List of political parties in Denmark, political party in Denmark. The party was founded as a split from the Venstre (Denmark), Venstre Reform Party in 1905. Histori ...

and in 2010 of Venstre. In 2009, Paludan ran for the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

for the

June Movement The June Movement () was a Danish left Eurosceptic political organisation founded 23 August 1992. It took its name from the referendum on the Maastricht Treaty that took place in Denmark in June of that year. The movement was a member of the E ...

without being elected. In 2016, Paludan started attending meetings of the

International Free Press Society The International Free Press Society (IFPS), founded in 2009, is a creation of the Danish Free Press Society. The stated purpose of IFPS "is to defend freedom of expression wherever and by whomever it is threatened". It has been described as a k ...

. In November 2016, he was appointed as a member of the

Lars Vilks Lars Endel Roger Vilks (20 June 1946 – 3 October 2021) was a Swedish visual artist and activist who was known for Lars Vilks Muhammad drawings controversy, the controversy surrounding his drawings of Muhammad. Many years earlier he had created ...

Committee. In January 2017, Paludan said that he was a member of and a lawyer for the far right Islam-critical association For Frihed (formerly Pegida Denmark). Paludan has on several occasions given speeches at the association's events and participated in the association's demonstrations. In January 2017, Paludan said that he had been a member of the political party New Right since September 2016. Paludan was nominated by the party as a candidate for Copenhagen's Citizens' Representative on 28 January 2017. Some days later Paludan had to leave the party after its leadership became aware of a controversial speech Paludan had given at a demonstration organized by the association For Frihed in October 2016; in the speech, Paludan predicted

civil war A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

-like conditions in Denmark as a result of an invasion from "foreign enemies". According to the New Right's chairman,

Pernille Vermund Ann Pernille Vermund Bretton-Meyer (born 3 December 1975) is a Danish architect ( MAA) and politician, being a member of the Folketing since 2019. She is known for co-founding and being the leader of the national-conservative political party Ny ...

, Paludan had called for violence with the speech.

Peter Seier Christensen Peter Seier Christensen (born 30 December 1967) is a Danish politician, chemical engineer and inventor, who is a member of the Folketing for New Right political party. He was elected into the Folketing in the 2019 Danish general election. Educat ...

, who is a co-founder of the party, also stated that he found the speech completely unacceptable. Subsequently, Paludan reported that he had joined the

party

Danish Unity Danish Unity or Danish Collection () is a political party in Denmark, founded in 1936 by Arne Sørensen (politician), Arne Sørensen. In 1939 the National Unity party, established by Victor Pürschel in 1938, merged with the party. It contested e ...

. However, Paludan was never accepted into the party, as it found several of his statements "out of step with Danish Unity's basic view".

Stram Kurs

In July 2017, Paludan founded the Stram Kurs party. The party's main issues include a ban on Islam and the deportation of up to half a million non-Western citizens. In 2017, Paludan ran for Stram Kurs in the municipal elections in Copenhagen without getting enough votes for a place in the Citizens' Representation. After disturbances at Paludan's demonstration in

Nørrebro Nørrebro (, ) is one of the 10 official districts of Copenhagen Municipality, Denmark. It is northwest of the city centre, beyond the location of the old Northern Gate (''Nørreport''), which, until dismantled in 1856, was near the current N ...

in Copenhagen in April 2019 gave him massive press coverage, the party collected the necessary number of signatures to become eligible for the 2019 general election. ''

The Copenhagen Post ''The Copenhagen Post'', also stylized ''CPH Post'', is a newspaper providing Danish news in English both nationally and internationally; it is the only English-language newspaper printed regularly in Denmark. History and profile Founded by S ...

'' noted in May 2019 that "Paludan has become a

paladin The Paladins, also called the Twelve Peers (), are twelve legendary knights, the foremost members of Charlemagne's court in the 8th century. They first appear in the medieval (12th century) ''chanson de geste'' cycle of the Matter of France, wh ...

for some and sits at an astonishing 2.6 percent in the polls". Paludan and Stram Kurs received a lot of attention during the election campaign and obtained 63,114 votes, corresponding to 1.79% of the votes cast, slightly below the threshold of 2%. Paludan was the party's leading candidate in the Zealand constituency and received just under 10,000 personal votes. With his popularity among youth on YouTube, if only those aged 18 to 24 voted in the election, Stram Kurs would have received 11 representatives in parliament according to a poll. In December 2019, Paludan was ranked number 18 on ''

Politiken ''Politiken'' is a leading Danish daily broadsheet newspaper, published by JP/Politikens Hus in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was founded in 1884 and played a role in the formation of the Danish Social Liberal Party. Since 1970 it has been indepe ...

s list of opinion leaders of the year.

Election results

Political activities

Early activities

One of the first times Paludan noticed himself in the media was in 2007, when he launched a website, on which he published pictures of cyclists and pedestrians who violated the traffic law. Paludan said he did it to reduce the number of people killed in traffic and to make people think twice. In August 2007, Paludan was knocked down by a cyclist he had photographed. The website no longer exists. In 2008, it was reported in ''

Jyllands-Posten (; English: ''The Morning Newspaper "The Jutland Post"''), commonly shortened to or ''JP'', is a Danish daily broadsheet newspaper. It is based in Aarhus C, Jutland, and with a weekday circulation of approximately 120,000 copies. In February 2016, Paludan brought a gun dummy to a meeting of the Lars Vilks Committee at Christiansborg. Paludan later said that it was part of the artwork ''Toys at Christiansborg''; the work was intended to illustrate that the police react excessively to harmless incidents, while at the same time, they react unsatisfactorily to real terrorist threats. Paludan was questioned by the police but got his dummy back without being charged. Paludan said he had erected a similar piece of art in a shopping mall in

Orange County, California Orange County (officially the County of Orange; often initialized O.C.) is a county (United States), county located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population ...

; here he was interrogated by the police and also expelled from the shopping centre for five years.

Voice of Freedom

In January 2017, Paludan introduced the media channel Voice of Freedom (''Frihedens Stemme''). The media is registered with the Press Board, and Paludan is its

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held accoun ...

. The Voice of Freedom also had a YouTube channel, and in a series of videos for the channel, Paludan has posed in front of the Youth House and other known sites associated with the radical left in Nørrebro in Copenhagen. In the videos, threatening situations occur, which lead Paludan to flee and call the police. On 25 January 2017, Paludan appeared at the

People's House People's Houses () were originally leisure and cultural centres built with the intention of making art and cultural appreciation available to the working classes. The first establishment of this type appeared in Tomsk, Russian Empire in 1882. Soo ...

in Nørrebro to interview participants in the

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...

assembly, where one of the items on the agenda was a discussion of "the militant resistance". Paludan was told to leave the area and had to flee from shelling and threats of violence. The Copenhagen Police subsequently ordered Paludan not to approach the People's House for the next twelve hours for his own safety.

Stram Kurs Quran-burnings

During 2018, Paludan became an internet phenomenon by holding a number of controversial demonstrations and uploading videos of them to YouTube. Paludan has especially organised demonstrations in the country's " vulnerable residential areas", where he has made hostile statements about Islam, has spat on, thrown and burned the Quran and encouraged people to urinate on it and has featured satirical drawings of

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

. Paludan has, for instance, referred to the Quran as "the great book of whores" and Islam as "gay Islam". Many of the moves have been recorded and posted on Stram Kurs' YouTube channel, which as of April 2019 had more than 300 videos, some of which had been viewed over a hundred thousand times, with about 25 million total views in June, which was more than all other Danish political parties combined. The YouTube videos have especially experienced popularity with children and young people, who can also often be seen in the background at the demonstrations. In 2020, the channel was shut down by YouTube, citing that their guidelines prohibit harassment and hate speech directed at individuals or groups based on race or religion. In April 2019, Paludan held a demonstration in Viborg, which led to chaos with the presence of about one hundred counter-protesters. Three people were arrested, and in June 2019, a 24-year-old Danish-

Syrian Syrians () are the majority inhabitants of Syria, indigenous to the Levant, most of whom have Arabic, especially its Levantine and Mesopotamian dialects, as a mother tongue. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend ...

man was sentenced to 60 days in jail, deportation, and a ban from returning to Denmark for six years for having thrown a rock at Paludan. Paludan's statements and methods have met with criticism from a number of politicians and media persons, while several of these have, however, defended his actions as a part of his right to express himself. During one of Paludan's demonstrations in Nørrebro in April 2019, a counter-protest occurred, after which disturbances arose and several people were arrested. In connection with this, the then Prime Minister of Denmark,

Lars Løkke Rasmussen Lars Løkke Rasmussen (; born 15 May 1964) is a Danish politician who has served as Minister of Foreign Affairs since 2022. He previously served as Prime Minister of Denmark from 2009 to 2011 and again from 2015 to 2019. He was Leader of the Ve ...

, tweeted that he strongly distanced himself from Paludan's provocations, but called for meeting them with arguments rather than violence. Several parliamentary politicians tweeted similar messages, including the then Minister of Foreign Affairs,

Anders Samuelsen Anders Samuelsen (born 1 August 1967 in Horsens, Denmark) is a Danish former politician who served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2016 to 2019, member of the Folketing from 2007 to 2011 and as leader of the Liberal Alliance party from 2 ...

, the then Minister of Justice,

Søren Pape Poulsen Søren Pape Poulsen (31 December 1971 – 2 March 2024) was a Danish politician who served as a member of the Folketing for the Conservative People's Party (Denmark), Danish Conservative Party and its leader from 2014 until his death. He was pre ...

, the then chairman of the judicial committee,

Peter Skaarup Peter Skaarup (born 1 May 1964) is a Danish politician who currently serves as a member of the Folketing for Copenhagen. Skaarup has served in the Danish Folketing since 11 March 1998, was deputy chairman from 1998 to 2012, and was parliamentary ...

, and political leader,

Pernille Skipper Pernille Skipper (born 10 July 1984) is a Danish former politician. She was a member of the Folketing from 2011 to 2022, and was political spokesperson for the Red–Green Alliance from 2016 to 2021, succeeding Johanne Schmidt-Nielsen. In 2021 s ...

. In June 2020, Paludan held a demonstration in

Aarhus Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus municipality, Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and app ...

, when a 52-year-old man pulled out a knife, entered the cordoned-off area, and ran towards Paludan. Police fired a warning shot, but the assailant did not lay down his weapon, whereupon police opened fire and wounded the assailant in the leg. In the aftermath, there was unrest in the area, in which police were hit by fireworks and rocks that were thrown by other assailants in the

Gellerup Gellerup is a neighborhood of the Brabrand district in the city of Aarhus, Denmark. The neighborhood was formerly a suburb that has now completely merged with the city and it is characterized by several natural attractions, detached house sectors ...

area.

Quran-burnings in Sweden

In connection with a planned Quran burning in

Malmö Malmö is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, sixth-largest city in Nordic countries, the Nordic region. Located on ...

, Sweden in August 2020, Paludan was banned from entering Sweden for two years, but in October he was granted

Swedish citizenship Swedish nationality law determines entitlement to Swedish citizenship. Citizenship of Sweden is based primarily on the principle of ''jus sanguinis''. In other words, citizenship is conferred primarily by birth to a Swedish parent, irrespectiv ...

due to his father's citizenship. His supporters then burned a Quran, which led to riots. Paludan had his Swedish citizenship confirmed in 2020 and thus obtained the right to stand in the Swedish parliamentary elections. In February 2022, Paludan stated that he planned to stand for the parliamentary elections in September. Paludan soon after began to hold a series of demonstrations in Sweden, while Stram Kurs worked in parallel to become eligible for registration in Denmark. In April 2022, violent disturbances occurred in connection with his demonstrations in

Rinkeby Rinkeby () is a district in the Rinkeby-Kista borough, Stockholm, Sweden. Rinkeby had 19,349 inhabitants in 2016. The neighbourhood was part of the Million Programme. The Stockholm metro station Rinkeby was also opened in 1975. Rinkeby is n ...

Örebro Örebro ( ; ) is the seventh-largest city in Sweden, the seat of Örebro Municipality, and capital of Örebro County. It is situated by the Närke Plain, near the lake Hjälmaren, a few kilometers inland along the small river Svartån, and ...

Linköping Linköping ( , ) is a city in southern Sweden, with around 167,000 inhabitants as of 2024. It is the seat of Linköping Municipality and the capital of Östergötland County. Linköping is also the episcopal see of the Diocese of Linköping (Chu ...

and

Norrköping Norrköping ( , ) is a city in the province of Östergötland in eastern Sweden and the seat of Norrköping Municipality, Östergötland County, about 160 km southwest of the national capital Stockholm, 40 km east of county seat Lin ...

. The unrest was condemned by Sweden's then Prime Minister,

Magdalena Andersson Eva Magdalena Andersson (born 23 January 1967) is a Swedish politician and economist who has been serving as Leader of the Opposition since October 2022 and Leader of the Swedish Social Democratic Party since 2021. She has served as a Member of ...

, who at the same time defended Paludan's right to speak. Other Swedish parliament members, including

Johan Pehrson Carl Johan Georg Pehrson (born 8 May 1968) is a Swedish politician who has been leader of the Liberal Party since 8 April 2022, a Member of Parliament since 2018, representing Örebro County, and Minister for Education since September 2024. He ...

and

Jimmie Åkesson Per Jimmie Åkesson (; born 17 May 1979) is a Swedish politician and author, serving as leader of the Sweden Democrats since 2005. He has been a member of the Riksdag (SD) for Jönköping County (Riksdag constituency), Jönköping County since ...

, also expressed condemnation of the violent reactions.

Quran-burning in front of the Turkish embassy

Rasmus Paludan burning the Koran 2023-01-21

On 21 January 2023, Paludan burned a Quran in front of the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm, which along with other burnings was later said to "have ignited an enormous global controversy". The Quran burning caused Turkey to cancel a Swedish ministerial visit that was supposed to have dealt with Sweden's application for membership in

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

, and demonstrations arose in Turkey, Iraq, Yemen and Jordan, where hundreds of angry protesters burned the Swedish flag and pictures of Paludan. The President of Turkey,

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician who is the 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as the 25th prime minister of Turkey, prime minister from 2003 to 2014 as part of the Jus ...

, stated that Sweden should no longer expect Turkish support for their NATO membership. Swedish membership of NATO requires that all 30 member states approve Sweden's application; Turkey was then the only country that had refused to do so. According to several experts and analysts, Erdogan used the situation to profile himself for the Turkish presidential election in May. Paludan stated on 26 January that he would burn a Quran every Friday in front of the Turkish embassy in Copenhagen until Turkey is ready to ratify Sweden's application for NATO membership. In July 2023, a court in

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

, Turkey, officially issued an

arrest warrant An arrest warrant is a warrant issued by a judge or magistrate on behalf of the state which authorizes the arrest and detention of an individual or the search and seizure of an individual's property. Canada Arrest warrants are issued by a jud ...

for Paludan for "publicly insulting religious values" as a result of having burned a Quran in front of their embassy. He received threats from

Islamic State The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Daesh, is a transnational Salafi jihadism, Salafi jihadist organization and unrecognized quasi-state. IS ...

supporters in response to the burning of the Quran, which they perceived as a declared war by the West against Islam, and vowed revenge.

Arrest warrant in Sweden

In May 2023, it was announced that Paludan would be arrested immediately if he set foot in Sweden, as he was investigated for racial hatred offences, insult and gross abuse against a public official. Paludan announced he had no intentions of entering Sweden again. In November 2024, Paludan was convicted by courts in Sweden for his remarks and was sentenced to up to four months' imprisonment.

Ban on burning the Quran in Denmark

After the Danish government in 2023 proposed to ban the burning of the Quran, Paludan said he would intensify his "mockery of Islam" in other ways, such as pouring

pig The pig (''Sus domesticus''), also called swine (: swine) or hog, is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is named the domestic pig when distinguishing it from other members of the genus '' Sus''. Some authorities cons ...

's blood and excrement on the Quran outside the ambassador's home. The Danish

Folketing The Folketing ( , ), also known as the Parliament of Denmark or the Danish Parliament in English, is the unicameral national legislature (parliament) of the Kingdom of Denmark — Denmark proper together with the Faroe Islands and Greenland. E ...

was divided on the issue, but voted to ban the burning of the Quran in December 2023, which Paludan described as a "great success".

Police protection and security

Paludan has demonstrated under massive police protection in districts and residential areas such as Vollsmose,

Brøndby Strand Brøndby Strand (in English: 'Well Town' Beach) is a suburb in Brøndby Municipality, approximately south-west of central Copenhagen, Denmark Overview Brøndby Strand contains a large housing project, in which 8,000 of the suburb's 11,000 inhabit ...

, Taastrupgaard,

Ishøj Ishøj is a Danish town with a population of 21,465 (1. January 2024). It is situated in the Region Hovedstaden, and is the seat of the Ishøj Municipality. Geography The town is located by the coast in the southwestern suburban area of Copen ...

, Greve and

Aalborg Aalborg or Ålborg ( , , ) is Denmark's List of cities and towns in Denmark, fourth largest urban settlement (behind Copenhagen, Aarhus, and Odense) with a population of 119,862 (1 July 2022) in the town proper and an Urban area, urban populati ...

Øst, and he has several times worn a

bulletproof vest A bulletproof vest, also known as a ballistic vest or bullet-resistant vest, is a type of body armor designed to absorb impact and prevent the penetration of firearm projectiles and explosion fragments to the torso. The vest can be either soft ...

to the demonstrations. Paludan has also received numerous death threats, and in March 2019, a person was charged and remanded in custody for threatening Paludan's life. Two former operational chiefs of the

Danish Security and Intelligence Service The Danish Security and Intelligence Service (DSIS; (PET)) is the national security and intelligence agency of Denmark. The agency focuses solely on national security while foreign intelligence operations are handled by the Danish Defense Intel ...

(PET), Hans Jørgen Bonnichsen and Frank Jensen, assessed in April 2019 that Paludan was in mortal danger as a result of his provocations. Bonnichsen and Jensen also assessed that Paludan's activities contributed to increasing the overall terrorist threat against Denmark's population. In October 2019, Paludan was temporarily banned by the Copenhagen Police from demonstrating in the police district, since the Center for Terror Analysis had assessed the current terrorist threat against Paludan as "very serious" due to a "specific threat". In September 2020, Paludan was put on

Al-Qaeda , image = Flag of Jihad.svg , caption = Jihadist flag, Flag used by various al-Qaeda factions , founder = Osama bin Laden{{Assassinated, Killing of Osama bin Laden , leaders = {{Plainlist, * Osama bin Lad ...

's death list, and according to Paludan, PET therefore chose to tighten security around him.

Exposure to violence and vandalism

Paludan has been subjected to violence or attempted violence several times in connection with his demonstrations: in April 2019, Paludan was hit in the head by a stone during a demonstration in Viborg; in October 2019, Paludan was evacuated by the police from a demonstration in Tingbjerg, after a series of firecrackers had been fired at him; and in November 2019, a woman was charged with violence after throwing a liquid at Paludan during a demonstration at Nørrebro's Runddel. In December 2016, Paludan's law office was vandalized. Unknown perpetrators had broken a window and thrown a lit powder extinguisher into the office. The powder extinguisher was secured with gaffer tape, so it remained lit and sprayed a thick layer of powder throughout the office. The unknown perpetrators had written "Fuck Pegida" on the façade of the office, a reference to the association For Frihed, whose name was previously Pegida. In January 2019, a commotion broke out between Paludan and two men while Paludan was exercising at Amager Fælled. Paludan activated his burglar alarm, but the two men fled on bicycles after one pushed and kicked Paludan. In February 2020, one man was found guilty in the Copenhagen District Court and sentenced to 40 days of probation, while another man was acquitted. In June 2020, during one of his demonstrations, Paludan was threatened by a man armed with a knife in Gellerupparken in Aarhus. Paludan was evacuated by the police, who shot the man in the leg after firing warning shots. The man was subsequently charged and indicted for attempted murder, just as another man was indicted for complicity in the same. On 8 February 2021, the two men were acquitted of attempted murder, but convicted of violence under section 245 subsection 1.

Debate on police resources

Police protection of Paludan had, from 1 January 2019, until the general election on 5 June of that year cost 100 million kr. According to a statement from the National Police, the police protection cost six million kroner in the period 1 January to 7 April, while the costs on 29 April had seven-folded to about 41 million. The cost of police protection of Paludan has been debated several times in the media by politicians and opinion makers. A number of national newspapers, including ''

'', ''

Berlingske ''Berlingske'', previously known as ''Berlingske Tidende'' (, 'Berling's Times'), is a Danish national daily newspaper based in Copenhagen. It is considered a newspaper of record for Denmark. First published on 3 January 1749, ''Berlingske'' is ...

'', ''

Ekstra Bladet is a Danish tabloid newspaper, published by JP/Politikens Hus in Copenhagen.About
(in Danish) . Retrieved 22 Se ...

'' and '' B.T.'', argued in leading articles in favour of Paludan's right to freedom of expression and religious criticism following the unrest in connection with a demonstration at Nørrebro in April 2019. However, ''

Kristeligt Dagblad ''Kristeligt Dagblad'' is a Danish newspaper in Copenhagen. The paper was founded in 1896 and is still circulation in the 2000s. It was founded with a Christian orientation. History and profile ''Kristeligt Dagblad'' was established in 1896. It ...

'' wrote that freedom of speech has and should have boundaries and that the abolished blasphemy paragraph could have been "an instrument to protect public order". In addition to newspapers, several members of parliament also engaged with the debate. In September 2018, the spokesman for the Socialist People's Party,

Karsten Hønge Karsten Hønge (born 25 September 1958) is a Danish politician, who is member of the Folketing for the Socialist People's Party. Karsten Hønge is one of few people who has been elected to city councils, county councils, regional council, Folket ...

, stated that the police protection should cease and that Paludan should demonstrate at his own risk. In May 2019, Denmark's then Minister of Justice,

, stated that it is important to defend Paludan's right to demonstrate, although he is both "uneducated and unsympathetic".

Naser Khader Naser Khader ( Levantine pronunciation: ; born 1 July 1963) is a Syrian-Danish politician and member of the Folketing 2001–2011 and again 2015–2022. Until 2021 he was a member of the Conservative People's Party. He was first electe ...

, who is a member of parliament for the Conservative People's Party, has also argued for the importance of protecting Paludan.

Political views

Characteristics in the media and academia

In the media and academia, Paludan has been described as far-right and right-wing extremist. Editor-in-chief of ''

Weekendavisen ''Weekendavisen'' (meaning ''The Weekend Newspaper'' in English) is a Danish weekly broadsheet newspaper published on Fridays in Denmark. Its circulation (as of 2007) is approximately 60,000 copies, about ten per cent of which cover subscription ...

'', Martin Krasnik, in an editorial in May 2019 called Paludan a "

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

"; this description has been rejected by several historians and was termed by historian Bent Blüdnikow as an "ahistorical and dangerous relativization of historical Nazism" and "an indignity to the victims of Nazism". Historian Claus Bryld stated to Berlingske that he had no problems with Krasnik's use of the word Nazi, but that he himself would probably use the word racist. Lecturer in history at Roskilde University Center

Claus Bundgård Christensen Claus Bundgård Christensen (born 1968) is a Danish historian and associate professor at Roskilde University known for his books related to collaboration and crime in Denmark during and following World War II. In 1998, he, and historians Niels B ...

, who is also an expert on Nazism, does not believe that Paludan is a Nazi. According to Christensen, the rhetoric that is used does not resemble the rhetoric of the Nazis either, and he instead calls the party leader a "populist demagogue". Against the accusations of being a Nazi, Paludan has said that he has always supported homosexuals and Jews in Denmark, and that as far as he knew, that was not a particularly Nazi view. British ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British newspaper published weekly in printed magazine format and daily on Electronic publishing, digital platforms. It publishes stories on topics that include economics, business, geopolitics, technology and culture. M ...

'' described him in February 2023 as "an attention-hogging far-right Danish politician". Among other things, Paludan has referred to himself as "guardian of society", "soldier of freedom" and "the light of the Danes". Ideologically, some observers have considered Paludan a

counter-jihad Counter-jihad (also known as the counter-jihad movement) is a self-titled Islamophobia, anti-Muslim political movement loosely consisting of authors, bloggers, think tanks, demonstrators, and other activists across the Western world. Proponents are ...

ist, although he considers himself to be an

ethno-nationalist Ethnic nationalism, also known as ethnonationalism, is a form of nationalism wherein the nation and nationality are defined in terms of ethnicity, with emphasis on an ethnocentric (and in some cases an ethnostate/ethnocratic) approach to variou ...

. Paludan believes that Islam should be banned in Denmark, and a ban is also part of Stram Kurs's political program. According to Paludan, such a ban would not be unconstitutional, since, according to Article 67 of the Constitution, freedom of religion is limited in that "nothing is taught or done that is contrary to morality or public order". Jørgen Albæk Jensen, who is a professor of law at

Aarhus University Aarhus University (, abbreviated AU) is a public research university. Its main campus is located in Aarhus, Denmark. It is the second largest and second oldest university in Denmark. The university is part of the Coimbra Group, the Guild, and Ut ...

, has assessed a ban on Islam to be in conflict with the mentioned section, and law professor Jens Elo Rytter has assessed that you can potentially ban religious communities, but not a whole religion.

Great replacement theory

Paludan has warned several times about the

Great Replacement The Great Replacement (), also known as replacement theory or great replacement theory, is a debunked white nationalist far-right conspiracy theoryPT71. espoused by French author Renaud Camus. The original theory states that, with the complicit ...

, a white-nationalist conspiracy theory that European populations are gradually being replaced by Muslim immigrants and their descendants. Paludan claimed in a party leadership debate during the 2019 general election that the ethnic Danish population is approaching becoming a minority due to a higher birth rate among Muslims in Denmark, and Paludan has claimed on several occasions that it will be a reality within a few decades. According to religion and demography researchers, there is no indication of such a development. Paludan has called for putting expelled foreign citizens unwilling and unable to travel back to their country in

detention camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simpl ...

s in North-Eastern

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

. In 2019 he ran for election on a platform of deporting up to 700,000 people of immigrant origin from Denmark.

Legal issues

Paludan has been involved in a number of lawsuits and legal disputes; he himself has been sued at various courts and has also been behind several lawsuits and complaints himself. Jacob Mchangama, who is the director of the legal think tank Justitia, has criticized Paludan for operating with double standards for free speech and for bringing "a series of patently baseless libel cases":

Complaints against the police

Paludan has voiced criticism of the police and the lawyers employed by them, just as he has led a number of complaints against specific officers. In 2007, he described in a debate post how he had experienced several officers acting in a critical manner. In the debate article, Paludan assessed that the vast majority of police officers were

psychopath Psychopathy, or psychopathic personality, is a personality Construct (psychology), construct characterized by impaired empathy and remorse, along with boldness, bold, disinhibited, and egocentrism, egocentric traits. These traits are often ma ...

s. In 2008, Paludan founded the association Danish Center for Complaints about the Police to combat the current police complaint system. Paludan has filed at least 18 complaints against specific officers without success, and he has sought access to the personnel information of at least 81 police officers and 16 police prosecutors. Chairman of the Police Association, Claus Oxfeldt, and chairman of the National Police Association, Jørgen Olsen, have described Paludan's actions as harassment and deliberate abuse.

Own lawsuits

In 2004, Paludan filed a civil lawsuit against Rasmus Paludan Malver, then a member of Young Conservatives, for calling himself Rasmus Paludan in, among other things, a reader's letter and a debate forum. Malver was partially acquitted, but convicted for having used the username "Paludan" in the Young Conservative debate forum, since according to the name legislation at the time, one was not allowed to use one's middle name as a surname. In 2006, Paludan sued two members of the Young Conservatives for libellous statements. In a debate post on the organization's website, they had called Paludan "neurotic" and "a nasty slick boy". In the Eastern High Court, the two members were sentenced to two daily fines of 500 kr.

Criminal proceedings against him

Sentence for insulting accusation

In 2015, Paludan was fined ten daily fines of 400 kr in the Eastern High Court for insulting a police assistant from the Copenhagen Police. In connection with a restraining order case, Paludan wrote three e-mails to the police assistant; in the emails, Paludan called the police assistant a "criminal snot puppy" and "fascist stormtrooper", among other things. During the case, excerpts of statements from a neuropsychological examination, a psychiatric specialist's statement and a preliminary neuropsychological examination were presented. The investigations showed that a brain injury sustained in a traffic accident in 2005 had left Paludan with a 25 per cent degree of disability and a 25 per cent loss of working capacity. Paludan explained in court that the injury had caused a behaviour change that made it difficult for him to tolerate the mistakes of others without becoming very frustrated himself.

First conviction for racism

In April 2019, Paludan was sentenced at the Court in Glostrup to a 14-day suspended prison sentence for violating Section 266 b of the Criminal Code, also known as the racism section, after having linked Africans with low intelligence in a YouTube video. Paludan stated in the video: The court also assessed that the video was an expression of propaganda, which according to the law is an aggravating circumstance. Paludan appealed to the Eastern High Court, which upheld the sentence on 4 July.

Second sentence for racism and other offences

In June 2020, Paludan was indicted for 14 offenses by the State Attorney in Copenhagen. The charges related to racism, defamation and reckless driving. On 25 June, Paludan was found guilty of all charges by the Court in Næstved and sentenced to three months in prison, of which one month was suspended. In addition to the prison sentence, Paludan was deprived of his driving license for one year, deprived of the right to lead criminal cases as a lawyer for three years and sentenced to a fine of 8,500 kr as well as ordered to pay 30,000 kr in compensation to the injured party in the defamation case. Paludan subsequently said that he would appeal the sentence. The Eastern High Court found Paludan guilty on 2 September 2021 but made the entire prison sentence conditional, reduced the compensation to 5,000 kr and did not deprive Paludan of the right to conduct criminal proceedings. The High Court upheld the unconditional revocation of the driving license and the traffic fine of 8,500 kr.

Restraining order

In 2013, Paludan was issued a restraining order by the Copenhagen Police against seeking out a former fellow student from the Latin studies at the University of Copenhagen. The five-year restraining order was issued after Paludan had harassed the fellow student for several years. According to Berlingske, the harassment consisted of phone calls, letters, text messages, physical harassment, seeking out the student's family members and circulating letters with derogatory information about the student.

Entry ban in Sweden

In August 2020, upon arrival at the border control in Lernacken, Paludan was refused entry to Sweden and was banned from entering Sweden for two years by the police in Malmö for reasons of national security. The police had previously refused Paludan permission to hold a demonstration in Malmö for reasons of order and security. Paludan was later recognized as a Swedish citizen by the Migration Board and therefore cannot be refused entry.

Ban from the United Kingdom

On 20 March 2023, Paludan was banned from entering the United Kingdom, after stating he would burn a copy of the Quran in the city of

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 109,766 in the 2021 census, up from 99,251 in the 2011 census. The city is the administrative centre of the wider Metropolit ...

during an upcoming visit in support of four pupils at a Wakefield school who had been suspended over damaging a Quran.

Law firm

Paludan has since 2014 worked as an independent lawyer and has been a defender of the self-proclaimed freedom activist Lars Kragh Andersen – who in 2015 received a 30-day suspended sentence for, among other things, publishing social security numbers belonging to the then Prime Minister,

Helle Thorning-Schmidt Helle Thorning-Schmidt (; born 14 December 1966) is a Danish retired politician who served as the 26th Prime Minister of Denmark from 2011 to 2015, and Leader of the Social Democrats from 2005 to 2015. She is the first woman to have held each p ...

, and the then Minister of Defense,

Nicolai Wammen Nicolai Halby Wammen (born 7 February 1971) is a Danish politician of the Social Democrats who has been serving as Minister for Finance in the government of Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen since 2019. A native and lifelong resident of Denmark's ...

– and has also been a defender of the provocative artist Uwe Max Jensen, who is friends with Paludan privately and has also been a candidate for Stram Kurs. Paludan has also led a number of cases on the use of

medical cannabis Medical cannabis, medicinal cannabis or medical marijuana (MMJ) refers to cannabis products and cannabinoid molecules that are prescribed by physicians for their patients. The use of cannabis as medicine has a long history, but has not ...

. In 2017, Paludan was appointed to defend a 42-year-old North Jutland man who, as the first in 46 years, stood accused of blasphemy, after he had burned a copy of the Quran in his garden and published a video of the act on Facebook. However, the case did not go to court when the Danish Parliament decided in June 2017 to abolish the blasphemy clause. Paludan has been asked several times to address the fact that he has been a lawyer for asylum seekers, while he has publicly argued against immigration. Paludan has rejected the criticism, explaining that his goal as a lawyer is to fight for the client and that a defence lawyer does not have to be a supporter of murder to be able to defend a person accused of manslaughter. Paludan has further said that he has only been a lawyer for a foreigner deprived of his liberty when that person has asked for him. Paludan was in three cases between 2016 and 2018 appointed as a lawyer for African asylum seekers. In 2017, Paludan was twice fined by the Bar Association for violating good legal practice. The reason was that, in connection with several cases, Paludan had called named police officers and prosecutors corrupt, possible criminals and high-level amateurs. Paludan appealed both decisions to the district court, which upheld them in May 2019. Paludan appealed the district court's decision, but it was upheld by the

Østre Landsret The Østre Landsret (Eastern High Court), established in 1919, is one of Denmark's two High Courts, along with the Vestre Landsret (Western High Court). Both High Courts function as a civil and criminal appellate court for cases from the subordina ...

in December 2020.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Paludan, Rasmus 1982 births Living people 21st-century Danish lawyers Counter-jihad activists Critics of multiculturalism Danish activists Danish critics of Islam Danish nationalists Leaders of political parties in Denmark People convicted of racial hatred offences Fugitives wanted by Turkey Political party founders Swedish critics of Islam Swedish people of Danish descent University of Copenhagen alumni Controversies in Sweden Articles containing video clips