Denmark: Supermarket rejects 'self-censorship' accusations

Denmark: Supermarket rejects 'self-censorship' accusations

The Liberal Party's political spokesperson, Inger Støjberg,resent the fact that many large shops removed religous symbols from the  Christmas displays of their shops.

'It sends a cold shiver down my spine when I hear Dansk Supermarked's spokesperson Erik Eisenberg say that they don't run a church but rather a place where everybody is allowed to come in.  That's imposing self-censurship, and that's posion for the free and democratic world," she told Danish news agency Ritzau.

Inger Støjberg doubts whether supermarket chains like Dansk Supermarked and Coop removed the angles and Christmas stars out of consideration for sales.

"There is absolutely small number of Muslims, who will feel hurt by this.  It will just be undemocratic, fundamentalist forces.  The completely common Muslim won't stop shopping in the shops because there's an angle hanging from the ceiling," she says.

Therefore  Inger Støjberg thinks that the shops should 'drop the mistaken consideration" and put back the religious Christmas decorations.

She says that there's nothing to hide.  "On the contrary, I think that it's important that we keep to our festival symbols, which we've always done," she says.

But according to Dansk Supermarked's spokesperson, Erik Eisenberg, the the politicians got it all wrong.

"The basis for the debate is wrong, because it's been stated that we have removed something.  There's never been this type of symbols in our decorations, that people talk about now."  he told Ritzau that retailers never had a tradition to use religiously motivated symbols.

Sources: DR, Berlingske (Danish)

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