Rasmus Paludan

For the bishop, see Rasmus Paludan (bishop).

Rasmus Paludan
Paludan in 2022
Leader of Stram Kurs
Incumbent
Assumed office
16 March 2017
Preceded byPosition created
Personal details
Born (1982-01-02) 2 January 1982 (age 42)
North Zealand, Denmark
Citizenship
  • Denmark
  • Sweden
Political partyStram Kurs (since 2017)
New Right (2016–17)
Venstre (2010)
Danish Social Liberal Party (RU) (c. 2003)
Other political
affiliations		Alternative for Sweden (c. 2021)
For Frihed (2016–17)
June Movement (c. 2009)
EducationUniversity of Copenhagen (ML)
OccupationActivist, lawyer, politician

Rasmus Paludan (born 2 January 1982) is a Danish-Swedish politican and lawyer, who is the founder and leader of the far-right nationalist Danish political party Stram Kurs. Paludan has become known for his extremist views, including that Islam should be banned and that immigrants of non-Western background should be deported from Denmark.[1][2] He is considered by political scientists and media to be far-right[10] and a right-wing extremist.[19]

Paludan is known for his Islamophobic and 'Islam-critical' events and demonstrations, which are often held in urban areas with many Muslim immigrants, initially in Denmark.[20] During the demonstrations, he has called the Quran "the big book of whores"[21] and Islam "gay Islam", just as he has burned, spat on and thrown the Quran[22] and encouraged people to urinate on it.[23] Paludan has particularly attracted attention by recording videos of his demonstrations and uploading them to the Stram Kurs party's YouTube channel.[24][25] 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.[26] 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".[27]

As a lawyer, Paludan has been a defense attorney in several cases with the press's attention. Paludan has also been involved in and subject to a number of lawsuits, legal disputes, and criminal charges.[28] In 2019, he was sentenced to 14 days conditional imprisonment for violating the Danish racism clause.[29] 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 to the offended, a Somali woman.[30]

As of 2020, Paludan was under constant police protection due to threats against him for his activity.[31]

  1. ^ "Stram Kurs krydser 12000 vælgererklæringer" (in Danish). DR. Ritzau. 23 April 2019. Archived from the original on 1 May 2019.
  2. ^ "Stram Kurs er opstillingsberettiget til folketingsvalg". msn.dk. Ritzau. 6 May 2019. Archived from the original on 26 December 2019. Retrieved 26 December 2019.
  3. ^ Switzer, Ryan; Beauduin, Adrien (6 December 2022). "Embodied nativism in Denmark: rethinking violence and the far right". Ethnic and Racial Studies. 46 (7). Informa UK Limited: 1335–1356. doi:10.1080/01419870.2022.2143716. ISSN 0141-9870. S2CID 254399367.
  4. ^ Bangstad, Sindre (5 October 2020). "Is free speech racist?". Ethnic and Racial Studies. 44 (8). Informa UK Limited: 1401–1404. doi:10.1080/01419870.2020.1825759. ISSN 0141-9870. S2CID 225124808.
  5. ^ Kondor, Katherine; Littler, Mark (12 September 2023). The Routledge Handbook of Far-Right Extremism in Europe. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-000-89703-6.
  6. ^ Rezaei, Shahamak; Goli, Marco (19 February 2020). "The 'housebroken' far-right parties and the showdown in Danish migration and integration policies". Relations between Immigration and Integration Policies in Europe. London: Routledge. p. 106–124. doi:10.4324/9780429263736-7. ISBN 978-0-429-26373-6.
  7. ^ Boffey, Daniel (5 May 2019). "Danish far-right party calling for Muslim deportation to stand in election". the Guardian. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
  8. ^ Badshah, Nadeem (20 March 2023). "Danish-Swedish far-right leader denied entry to UK to burn Qur'an". the Guardian. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
  9. ^ Chris Baynes & PA (20 March 2023). "Danish far-right leader banned from UK over threat to burn Quran in Wakefield". BBC News. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
  10. ^ Sources describing Paludan as far-right include:[3][4][5][6][7][8][9]
  11. ^ "Danish far-Right extremist Rasmus Paludan to stand in Swedish election". The Local Sweden. 20 April 2022.
  12. ^ Phalnikar, Sonia (20 April 2022). "Political provocations in Sweden – DW – 04/20/2022". dw.com. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
  13. ^ "Right-wing extremist Paludan wants to hold May 1st rallies in Stockholm and Uppsala". Sveriges Radio. 26 April 2022.
  14. ^ "Riots erupt in Sweden's Orebro ahead of right-wing extremist demonstration". Reuters. 15 April 2022. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
  15. ^ Westfall, Sammy (18 April 2022). "3 hurt, 25 arrested in unrest over far-right demonstrations in Sweden". Washington Post. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
  16. ^ "After Koran burnings in Stockholm and Copenhagen, Sweden wants to avoid a crisis". Le Monde.fr. 5 February 2023. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
  17. ^ RHYS, Paul (18 July 2022). "FocusPublic burning of Koran tests Sweden's stance on freedom of expression". France 24. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
  18. ^ Peters, Rikke; Richards, Julian (31 October 2019). "Propaganda and conspiracy theories in extreme right ideologies". UC Knowledge - University Colleges Knowledge database. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
  19. ^ Sources describing Paludan as right-wing extremist include:[11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]
  20. ^ Sisseck, Jan (27 September 2018). "Kontroversiel youtuber på vej til Østjylland: Vil provokere muslimer". Århus Stiftstidende (in Danish). Archived from the original on 26 December 2019.
  21. ^ Cite error: The named reference pol20190520 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  22. ^ Cite error: The named reference tv220190415 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  23. ^ Cite error: The named reference radio24syv was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  24. ^ Cite error: The named reference jp20190415 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  25. ^ Cite error: The named reference information-20190611 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  26. ^ "Stram Kurs-kanal på YouTube er blevet lukket". Politiken (in Danish). Ritzau. 15 February 2020. Archived from the original on 28 June 2020.
  27. ^ Cite error: The named reference wapo was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  28. ^ Cite error: The named reference b20190508 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  29. ^ Cite error: The named reference stadfæstelse was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  30. ^ Oldager, Mathias (2 September 2021). "Landsret mildner straf for racisme til Rasmus Paludan". DR (in Danish).
  31. ^ Frydendahl, Lise Soelberg (11 March 2020). "Når Rasmus Paludan sover, må betjente sidde otte timer i en bil uden adgang til toilet". DR (in Danish). Retrieved 12 March 2020.