TEACH PROPHET MUHAMMAD CARTOON CRISIS IN SCHOOL?

COPENHAGEN, Denmark – School-children should be taught about the crisis caused by controversial Prophet Muhammad cartoons that angered many Muslims and was behind recent attacks in Europe, two conservative Danish opposition parties said Friday.

“The cartoon crisis, the Charlie Hebdo killings and the latest terrorist attack in Copenhagen on February 14 are such an important part of history they should have a permanent place on the school curriculum,” Conservative People’s Party spokeswoman Mai Mercado wrote in the daily Jyllands-Posten.

It is the Danish newspaper that originally printed 12 satirical cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in 2005 that sparked protests in parts of the Islamic world. The paper received death threats.

In January, 12 people at the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo that reprinted the Danish cartoons, and later created some of their own, were shot dead in a jihadist attack on their Paris offices.

The spokeswoman stressed however that teachers would be free to choose whether or not to show the cartoons themselves, as long as the topic was discussed.

“Politically we don’t regulate the details of what students are taught, that’s an old tradition to make sure that Danish schools are kept free from political interference,” Mercado told AFP.

But she added that if teachers refused to show the cartoons she was “convinced the students would go home and run a Google search because students are curious.”

The Conservatives were shown as having 5.3 percent of voter support in a poll this week, meaning it would be the second smallest party in parliament if elections were held today.

• But the anti-immigrant Danish People’s Party (DPP), which was ranked third with 19.6 percent support by the same poll, went even further, saying that showing the cartoons should be mandatory in schools.

Source: AFP