The cartoonist Kurt Westergaard was attacked in his home while he was looking after his grandchild. The assailant broke down the front door with an axe but the cartoonist managed to barricade himself in a safety room.

Terrorists have planned attacks against Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten and have had plans to gun down as many employees as possible, but each time the intelligence service has uncovered the activities.
 
The Danish prime minister, who could previously move freely about on the street, is today tightly marked by specially trained police officers and the head of government's home is now under 24 hour surveillance.

In short, although it is not commonplace to hear about terrorists who plan attacks, most Danes are aware that their country has become a terrorist target. Participation in the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and most recently Libya, along with the cartoons of the prophet Muhammad in Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten, has put Denmark in the firing line when it comes to Islamic terror.

Could the same thing happen here?

When the first scanty details of the bomb explosions in Oslo appeared the reaction from the Danish experts was that it must be an attack by Islamic terror groups.

Most people reacted with disbelief when it became clear that the attacker was a blond Norwegian named Anders. Few could understand the thinking of a young Norwegian who hated immigrants so intensely and considered his elected representatives to be so treasonable - because they had allowed immigration - that he was prepared to bomb government buildings and gun down dozens of innocent young people. With one blow everyone's eyes were opened to right-wing extremism, fed by deep nationalistic and Islam-critical attitudes.

In Denmark it made the media ask the question: Could the same thing happen here? And in the same breath the reporters asked if the authorities, after a decade of Islamic terror, had underestimated the threat from right-wing extremism?

Increased focus

The answers are not clear, but in Denmark the threat from Islamic terror movements is still assessed to be the greatest, especially because of the cartoon affair, and that threat has led to a significant build-up of intelligence services.
 
When it comes to right-wing extremism, many refer to the assessments from Interpol who warn that the extreme right are becoming increasingly active and professional when it comes to producing online propaganda with xenophobic and anti-Semitic content.

"Although the overall threat from right-wing extremists is thought to be decreasing, and the number of criminal cases against right-wing extremists is low, their professionalism in both propaganda and organisation shows that right-wing extremist groups have the will to grow and spread their ideologies and therefore still pose a threat to EU member states," was the telling statement in an analysis from Europol.

For the same reasons the intelligence service has already been monitoring the extreme right for years and there is no doubt that the attacks in Norway will sharpen awareness of the service. In the days after the attacks in Norway PET's chief executive Jakob Scharf made it clear that PET had intensified its surveillance of relevant milieus to prevent activities that could develop into threats again national security.
The Danish media quickly revealed that there was some truth in that.

First a case emerged of a 43-year-old right-wing radical man who stored in his home chemicals that could be used to manufacture bombs. Newspapers disclosed that Russian neo-Nazis had made contact with right-wing extremists in the National Front Denmark, and that Danish nationalists had received weapon training with right-wing radicals in Russia.
This development is known to PET, which in its latest annual report has described how parts of the right-wing extremist milieu are working to establish contact with violent extremist milieus abroad.

Who is responsible?

Apart from the fact that the tragedy in Norway threw light on new threats, the debate focused mainly on the extent to which parties that have in particular had immigration policies on their agenda have contributed to creating a climate that incites men like Anders Breivik.

Here critics especially accused politicians from the Danish People's Party (DF) of making hateful remarks about foreigners, and several people suggest that DF indirectly was responsible for inspiring political violence among radicalised right-wing fanatics.

The leader of the Danish People's Party, Pia Kjærsgaard, categorically rejected the criticism. Instead, she lashed out at the critics for making a false analysis. She cautioned against pouring cold water on a debate which openly discusses the negative consequences of immigration, and she put massive distance between herself and the leader of the Norwegian Progress Party, Siv Jensen, who, after the terrorist attacks, called for moderation in the debate on immigration.

"Denmark is a free and open society, and a mass murderer is not going to change that. That is exactly what will happen if the Norwegian police begin to search their consciences despite the fact that there is only one person - the mass murderer - who can be blamed," said Pia Kjærsgaard.

For the same reason she turned against the message in a feature article by the parish priest Sørine Gotfredsen, who suggested using the tragedy in Norway to understand the danger of a multicultural society.

"I absolutely do not agree. I do not believe that one should give in to a mass murderer to the extent that you try to understand why he has done this", said Kjærsgaard.

The left-wing on trial

Since the tragic attacks against Norway the debate has taken a new and surprising twist in Denmark.

In a sensational case five young men were charged under the terrorism act in conjunction with carrying out or planning arson attacks on everything from fur companies to political institutions and the police. The case laid bare a new uncompromising and violent left-wing extremism.

In connection with the Danish general election on 15 September, in which the left-wing party the Red-Green Alliance had a fantastic result, there was a renewed focus on left-wing radicalism. Several media zoomed in on the Red-Green Alliance's relationship with the extreme left-wing. Jyllands-Posten described how several of the party's MPs had supported movements that are on the EU's terror list. Other newspapers reported that one of the five young people charged under the terrorist act for conspiracy to arson had been a member of the party's youth organisation, the Socialist Youth Front, up until 2009.

This time it was the turn of the Red-Green Alliance to reject the comments. The experienced left-wing politician Frank Aaen dismissed all allegations that the Red-Green Alliance has links to militant groups.

"All our parliamentary candidates are against terror and violence. If we have members who advocate violence or make statements advocating violence, they will be excluded", said Frank Aaen.

Overall, there has been increased focus on radicalism to the right and the left. But if you listen to the signals from the intelligence services, the threat against Denmark is still greatest from exogenous Islamic terror organisations.

The views expressed are those of the author.