COPENHAGEN –Police describe the suspect as “male, 25-30 years old, around 185cm tall, athletic build with an Arabic appearance but with lighter skin than normal and with black, slick hair.”
The French ambassador, Francois Zimeray, told AFP:
“They fired on us from the outside. It was the same intention as (the January 7 attack on) Charlie Hebdo except they didn’t manage to get in.
Intuitively I would say there were at least 50 gunshots, and the police here are saying 200.
Bullets went through the doors and everyone threw themselves to the floor. We managed to flee the room, and now we’re staying inside because it’s still dangerous.
The attackers haven’t been caught and they could very well still be in the neighbourhood.”
Dozens of shots were fired at the cafe in Denmark’s capital.
The meeting in the Danish capital was being attended by a controversial cartoonist.
Swedish artist Lars Vilks sparked anger in 2007 with drawings depicting the Prophet Muhammad as a dog – which sparked threats from Islamist militant groups.
Two gunmen fled the scene in a car following the shooting and are now on the run.
Police have found what they believe to be the getaway car.
This story is developing.
EARLIER REPORT: Several shots have been fired at a cafe in Denmark’s capital where a meeting about freedom of speech was being held, according to media reports.
At least three policemen were wounded in Saturday’s attack at the Krudttoenden cafe in Copenhagen.
Copenhagen-based journalist Peter Starup Kedorff told Al Jazeera that the gunmen have fled, and police are looking for two to three suspects.
The meeting was organised by Swedish artist Lars Vilks, who has faced numerous threats for caricaturing the Prophet Muhammad in 2007.
The French ambassador to Denmark also attended the event.
Police are characterising the incident as a “terror attack”, journalist Christina Marker, who was reporting from Copenhagen, told Al Jazeera.
“There’s a massive police presence here,” she said.
Earlier, the TV2 channel reported that there were some 30 bullet holes in the window of the Krudttoenden cafe in Copenhagen, and said at least two people were taken away on stretchers, including a uniformed police officer.
Helle Merete Brix, one of the organisers of the event, told the AP news agency that Vilks was present at the event but not injured. When the artist is in Denmark, he receives police protection.
The cafe in northern Copenhagen, known for its jazz concerts, was hosting an event titled “Art, blasphemy and the freedom of expression” when the shots were fired.
Niels Ivar Larsen, one of the speakers at the event, told the TV2 channel that he saw two wounded people.
(Al Jazeera)
